


Daring's Legacy Day

by Peppermint_Magician_Lynn



Category: Ever After High
Genre: (Concensual) Drugging of Animals, Brotherly Affection, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Emotionally Repressed, Future In-Laws, Legacy Day (Ever After HIgh), Legacy Day Aftermath (Ever After High), Narcissism, Parent-Child Relationship, Secret Relationship, Sibling Bonding, Unexpected Friendship, feelings of inferiority, parental pressure
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-23
Updated: 2017-10-20
Packaged: 2018-12-03 05:20:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 39,278
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11525382
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Peppermint_Magician_Lynn/pseuds/Peppermint_Magician_Lynn
Summary: Could Daring Charming be a bit more complicated than he first appears? Taking a look at Legacy Day through his perspective, perhaps we can learn a little about what goes on in this narcissistic Prince's brain. His views on destiny as well as his interactions with the rest of students. Daring has a long day ahead of him.





	1. The Duties of a Prince

**Author's Note:**

> Daring is a fascinating character in EAH and analyzing his brain is always fun. Quick warning, I'm not very good with the fairytale world vernacular, so unfortunately, there won't be as many puns as I wish there was. Need to practice more. A combination of elements from the webisodes as well as the books.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Legacy Day is here and Daring has a busy schedule to keep. Not only does he have to keep up with his adoring fans and all their love, but there's a certain dragon in need of his assistance. A prince never rests.

“What is destiny?” This is an interesting and intricate question to ask someone. There are definitely a lot of ways to answer it and not everyone could give you a definition, so maybe it’s a bad question to ask. At least for the moment.

So how about this one instead: “what does destiny mean to you?”

Much better.

If such a question had been asked to a certain blond prince with a smile that could set hearts (and some combustible materials) ablaze, he would answer thus:

_“Destiny means to embrace one’s individual duty within their story and the world. To follow the progression of all work and take up the mantel of your valuable piece to the puzzle of life.”_

For this particular prince, who goes by the name of Daring Charming, destiny is all about duty; responsibility; the consideration of others.

…what? He _does_ think that! Why are you making that face?

…oh, I see. We only get a few glimpses of this character, don’t we? Well, how about a story, then, to show you a bit more about him and how living one’s destiny might not be all that easy a job, even for the most charming of princes ever after.

 

Daring’s Tale: The Story of a Royal

 

The long-awaited Legacy Day dawned pretty bright. The night-briars were already receding, and bits of golden sun were allowed to light up the east side of Ever After High, entering into the bedroom window of a particular pair of princes. As the sound of croakish snores came from the opposing side of his dorm, Daring sat up in bed, stretching and readjusting his flattened hair. He smiled a little while observing Hopper, not usually a late sleeper, still dozing in his bed. His roommate had been up late last night getting phone calls from his family members, particularly his mother who was a bit overzealous. Daring couldn’t count how many pet names he had overheard Queen Croakington use or the many shades of red Hopper had turned at each one, leading the cursed prince into a peculiar cycle of frog transformation then wearing off back to boy, then to frog once more. After all that, who could blame him for being exhausted?

Nonetheless, how could anyone not want to leap out of bed on a day like today? It was _Legacy Day,_ for crying out loud! The day when dreams would come true.

Leaping from his own bed, but taking a moment to readjust sheets and pillows so the ironed-on image of his handsome face was regally displayed, Daring eagerly began his morning stretches, getting his body loose and prepped for a day that might include springing in at a moment’s notice to aid whomever may be in distress. Though, for the sake of everyone, he hoped all would go smoothly today of all days. The last thing he’d want was to muss his hair.

He typically dealt with showers the night previously, so the blond prince donned his everyday outfit and started the morning’s preparations of hair and face. Many teenagers, particularly those of royal heritage, had their own special tricks and routines before a day of classes and activities, but Daring was certain he had the most intricate and time consuming system of them all. After all, _his_ looks weren’t simply for cosmetic purposes. As he’d been informed of his whole life, they were quite literally his entire life’s value. He could not afford under any circumstance to let a stray hair or dark circle depreciate him.

He was just finishing up his third round of hair brushing (there were several types of products to go through and each needed to be brushed in separately) when Hopper finally roused himself. Seeing the time displayed on his fly-shaped bedside clock, the boy let out a squeak of alarm and rapidly threw himself about the room to get things together. He had always kept his closet tidy and well organized so he could dress at a moment’s notice, but he hadn’t prepacked his school bag the night before and was at a loss to where all his books and papers were located.

“Why didn’t you wake me?” the boy croaked as he fled to the bathroom to brush his teeth. “I’m going to be late now and I don’t want to miss out on seeing Briar at breakfast, or when we get to homeroom. And…”

“Relax, my froggy fellow,” Daring called out to him, not looking away from the mirror. How could he? With looks like his, you had to appreciate them every chance you got. “Breakfast was extended and first period was canceled for the day to make room for morning delivery.”

“Morning delivery…” the boy mumbled, peaking out the door to his roommate, toothpaste foam surrounding his mouth. “Delivery of what?”

“Why, the Legacy Day parcels. Remember?” Daring was so surprised by his forgetfulness, he actually turned to face him. Surely he’d been listening when Headmaster Grimm explained this yesterday... But then again, _Briar Beauty_ had been in the same room, so that might explain the lapse in memory. Shaking his head lightly, Daring went on, “The school will be releasing our Heirloom outfits this morning for those whose parents left clothes in the protection of the school and for those who will receive deliveries from outside sources.”

“Oh, yeah,” Hopper recalled, rinsing his mouth then strolling towards his closet. “My parents mentioned that to me last night. Dad had to have some parts of his old outfit adjusted so they took it out and had it altered. Will it be here in time, though?”

“Most definitely,” Daring told him with confidence as he returned to his hair adjustments. “The deadlines to get them here was a while ago and if not, then you had to come up with our own delivery service. So, if your parents never confirmed either, Headmaster Grimm would have contacted them and set up something himself. You know how seriously he’s taking this day.”

“No kidding…” Hopper said, shrugging on his jacket. “Did you know that he actually-?”

“And there we go!” Daring declared as he finally straightened the last bit of hair into a perfect wavy sleekness. Looking himself over, he was pleased as always by his natural beauty and how well he’d cultivated that beauty up to this point. Yep, he was a prince in his own league, no doubt about it. Ready to embrace his destiny.

Hopper, used to his roommate getting lost in his own world, only shook his head and finished pulling on his loafers. “Are you coming to breakfast this morning?”

“Unfortunately, no,” Daring answered, finally pulling himself away from his mirror. “I must journey to the dragon stables before the pickup time begins. Legend needs to be taken care of early today, so he will be settled by the time the ceremony commences.”

Hopper nodded. The school dragon, Legend, was a powerful beast and while mostly well-behaved and tamed, still had moments when he would burst from the stables un-beckoned and stir up a little pandemonium around the school or village. But that was fine since there was always Daring about to “slay” the creature, an archaic term they used for the interactions of dragons and heroes despite that physical harm rarely came to either anymore. It was just the two of them putting up the grand old show of decades passed, their way of “playing”, then Legend flying peacefully back to the stables for a meal and a nap. After a whole year of working together, the school dragon and Charming prince had formed a unique kind of bond, and Daring remained the only person who could get near the sharp-toothed creature when he was in a rowdy mood. And being told that he’d have to remain trapped in the abandoned Dragon Games field all day and night had likely not set well with the beast.

“Fine. I’ll see you later, then.” And with that, Hopper left their bedroom, shutting the door behind him.

Once he was alone, Daring set down his comb and took up his MirrorPhone to check his messages. The voicemail was full, and his MirrorMail box stuffed with new messages, the subject lines bearing titles like “TO MY GORGEOUS PRINCE” and “MARRY ME” and much of the like. Anyone else might have grumbled with aggravation over all these hopeful entreaties (his little sister was one such person) but Daring smiled widely at these displays of adoration. All these notes of praise just meant he was playing his part right as the most Charming Prince ever after. It wasn’t the ladies’ faults if some preferred to approach him personally rather than stand on the sidelines and sigh. He admired women who went after what they wanted. Even damsels could show off their bravery.

Picking up his book bag, he slung it on over his letterman jacket and with one final mirror check, strutted out into the hallway where he was met, as expected, by a throng of cheering girls all waiting for him like hounds who had scented his coming arrival. The moment he came into view, loud shrieks filled the hallway and many were jumping up and down and batting eyelashes.

Daring smiled. They were all so cute.

Heh. Just like him.

* * *

 

After a long trek across the school grounds, including a lot of strutting and smile flashing, Daring finally had to separate from his fan club once he reached the edge of the campus. While his fans (“groupies” as Briar liked to call them) were quite a dedicated bunch, they were all nervous about Legend who rarely played nice with students other than his favorite rider. In fact, Poppa Bear, the school’s Beast Training and Care teacher, had declared the dragon’s behavior to be possessive towards Daring, a phenomenon that confused him for some reason, though his attempts to confirm whatever theory he had about this went unconcluded.

Once the ruined sports field came into view, the girls quickly made their excuses and took off, promising to see their favorite prince later on before the Legacy Day ceremony started. He’d left them with a wave and one last swoon-worthy smile before setting off alone.

Legend was wide wake when he arrived, back from his morning flight and seething in the hall of the large stable. Looking around at the old structure that managed to hold up despite its age, Daring tried to imagine back to the hay day of the place, the time when his parents had attended Ever After High in what they now referred to as the Class of Classics. Legend would have been a much younger dragon amongst the stables then, one of the small handful that were being raised for the position of frightening beasts of fiery battle as well as heroic steads. The other dragons that were housed there were pure riding dragons for the Dragon Games. His mother had previously described the events to him as being one of the few sports teams that were female total and allowed even damsels to perform acts that some might have found unladylike. It was rough, it was dangerous, and it was competitive. Yet, for some odd reason, no one ever said a word against it.

Alas, those days were long passed and only Legend remained, a child of those heroic characters of tales much like Daring was. Two beings taking up the mantels of their forefathers (or foremothers), him a dashing prince and Legend, a ferocious fighter. It was their legacies. And their destinies.

“Hello, old boy,” Daring greeted the prone beast as he entered. Legend looked up, always prepared to blow fire at anyone who breached his domain, but immediately relaxed when he saw it was Daring, instead blowing an affectionate puff of smoke from its nostrils then bent its head low for the prince to pet him.

 _So adorable_ , Daring thought to himself as he happily stroked the bumpy indigo scales. There were times he would almost count Legend as a member of his fan club with how cute the grand monster would behave around him or how sweet he could be. Despite that he was an adult-aged dragon capable of being a father at any time, he tended to act like a baby dragon, the same as Nevermore who belonged to Raven Queen. While he was usually huff and puff, he would still cringe or whimper if Daring became upset with him on some rare occasions.

After a little while of the two cross-species friends getting reacquainted, Legend perked up his ears and started growling towards the doorway which caused Daring to look back, prepared, like his dragon, for a new visitor.

There was a powerful knocking on the wooden doors before they were pushed aside and in strode Professor Poppa Bear. To others unfamiliar to the teacher, he seemed a friendly-looking fellow (if you ignored the razor-sharp teeth of his smile). His clothes were a bit outdated and he had all the appearance of a middle-aged father to a cozy family of three. But the students had learned even the most cuddly of bears should be taken seriously and given their space; everyone except Blondie Locks, who preferred to treat the ursine teacher like a dear old uncle. In a way, he kind of was considering it was his own porridge and chair that had been the targets of her mother, Goldilocks, during her uninvited visit to his childhood home. Blondie believed that, since their stories remained intertwined, why shouldn’t they be like friends? He wasn’t as enthusiastic about this idea.

“Mr. Charming, glad that you’re here,” the teacher greeted in his typical gruff and impatient way. Always high strung, Daring observed, but didn’t say out loud. The instructor always seemed to have somewhere else he’d rather be than dealing with students or their creatures. In his paw was a leather sack that while used to hide the smell of its contents, still had a strong enough scent of dragon food to catch Legend’s attention. He quickly tossed the bag towards the boy for him to take care of, thus not having to personally approach his scaly companion. “I guess you know what you have to do?”

“Yeah,” Daring agreed with a sigh then, taking the bag in his own hand, he turned to Legend. “You remember what I told you yesterday, dear chap?”

The dragon growled low in his throat, eyeing the sack with blatant revulsion. Yes, he remembered _that_ conversation. Headmaster Grimm was in a tizzy over this Legacy Day thing of his and didn’t want Legend showing up at inopportune times to disturb the ceremony. He’d even been considering putting up the briar wall all day, but decided he would relent on such an extreme order if other security measures were taken. One of which was the prevention of dragon entries to the campus and while a bevy of knight alums had agreed to stand guard as a favor to the Headmaster, the school’s own reptile was a different problem.

“I don’t really want to do this, either,” Daring said, patting the broad nose of his reptilian friend, “but it won’t be so bad. You just eat a full breakfast and sleep through most of the day. And when you wake up, you’ll find a big dinner of all your favorites. You finish those, take just one more nap and it’ll all be over. You’ll be back to soaring the skies wherever you wish by tomorrow morning.”

Legend gave another huff and angled his head away, glaring at the student.

“Come on, old boy. It’ll be perfectly fine, I promise. It won’t hurt a bit. Will it, Professor Poppa Bear?”

“Definitely not,” the furry teacher answered, adjusting his tweed golf cap. “I wouldn’t dream of feeding that dragon anything to upset its stomach. I already have Headmaster Grimm breathing down my neck just to keep this one and Raven Queen’s dragon out of the way. I don’t need that little Beauty girl complaining to me again about ‘beast mistreatment’.”

Daring nodded his head, knowing immediately who he was talking about. There were only two girls in the school with the surname “Beauty” and while one was Briar Beauty, daughter of Sleeping Beauty and resident party expert, the other was Rosabella Beauty, daughter of the Beauty and Beast duo and activist of all things animal or otherwise beast-related. If anything even remotely harmful was being done around campus, she would be involved in a heartbeat.

With the first half of his task done, Poppa nodded to Daring, then retreated outside to wait as the boy handled the next part.

“Time for breakfast, Legend,” Daring gave the beast one more pat before reaching to the large rope dangling from the mechanics located above their heads. He gave it a strong pull and the machine started up, depositing a large helping of dragon chow into Legend’s trough. “You only have to eat it all up; nothing more. I’m sure it’s perfectly tasty.”

Daring continued to talk to the dragon as he approached the already full trough and overturned the sack to deposit its contents into it. It looked exactly like the rest of the beast food, and despite that it contained a heavy sleeping drought prepared by Rumpelstiltskin, it was supposedly fine for consumption.

Legend looked at the trough ruefully, then turned up its snout, not wanting even a single bite of whatever concoction the humans had planted. While the scaly monster did have an unusual amount of trust in Daring, its natural instincts prevented it to just take something without assurance it was safe. Daring saw the look on its face and, having an idea of what it was thinking, sighed over what he’d have to do.

“It’s perfectly safe. Not poisoned at all,” Daring declared. Then, to prove his point, he fearlessly reached into the trough and picked up a piece of the food. Luckily, Legend preferred dried food for breakfast so it was less messy. Legend watched and Daring made sure to keep eye contact as he lifted the piece of kibble to his mouth and popped it right in, making a show of chewing on it and providing hums of appreciation.

Internally, he was fighting back a desire to cringe at the smells invading his senses from the inside. Despite what others might think of a Prince doing such a thing, Legend’s food really wasn’t all that bad. He knew what it was made of (he often fed the dragon himself) and all it contained was lamb cutlets and various herbs for the production of dragon fire. As a human, it burned his nose with the strength of its aroma, but did him no real harm, though he’d need to brush his teeth really well after this. Good thing he always carried tooth-care products in his backpack!

Legend raised an eyebrow as he did this but when Daring flashed him a smile of confidence, the beast seemed to begrudgingly accept this obvious challenge and his fate. So, with a growling sigh of defeat, he dove his face right in and started chewing up everything in the trough. Halfway through the meal, his body was visibly relaxing. Three quarters in, his eyes were droopy. And by the time the trough was licked clean, the great scaly head was bobbing lethargically. Daring whistled in quiet amazement. That sleeping drought was powerful stuff; good thing he’d eaten a non-potion kibble.

Sleepily, the dragon strolled over to his personal stall, freshly cleaned and restocked for comfort, and laid down his head. “There you are, old boy,” Daring said softly, rubbing the beast’s snout. “Just take a long rest and when you wake up, I’ll be here for the next time, too. Sleep well.”

Not having enough energy to put up a fight, Legend gave a soft grunt and the prince watched until small steady puffs floated up from his nostrils. He was fast asleep.

With this done, Daring quickly went out the door and waved over Poppa Bear who’d walked off a short distance to read the morning paper while reclining against the hill. Sighing, the instructor put his paper into his bag and came back towards the stables as he needed to do a checkup on Legend before he could consider the dragon temporarily out of commission. While he went in, Daring extracted headphones from his book bag, connecting them to his MirrorPhone and placing the buds over his ears. He set the phone to his voicemail and spent the waiting time listening to the messages of love and admiration that had been sent to him, having grown some since he’d last checked it. Each would need a personal return should the ladies who sent them ask for his response.

He felt bad about having to always turn down their heartfelt declarations. The prince accepted their beautiful words, thanked them, and in a way, continued to encourage their seemingly never-ending spirits of love. Most of his many fans already knew that all he could be to them was an idol, a friend at most and a hero to all. But every now and then, he’d be confronted by a girl who wanted more than that, who honestly wanted him to be _her_ prince and play a part in her own story, and they were the ones whose hearts he had to break.

Because though he liked to act as his own man with his own choice, the fact was…he wasn’t. He already had a story he belonged to and his destined princess was set in stone. He could not and would not get the hopes up of some innocent girl that such a situation could be altered. It wasn’t possible.

He cared about them each too much to consider leading them on.

 

* * *

 

Daring had been chosen special. That was how he liked to think of it and certainly how everyone else viewed his rise into certain legend. Of all the many qualified princes in the fairytale world, he’d been picked for the most prestigious role open to someone of his specifications: the male lead in the tale of _Snow White_. The legendary Prince Charming.

It would be Daring who would trek through the Dark Woods, facing all kinds of terrors to reach the resting site of Apple White, Snow White’s daughter and heir to her fairytale, and deliver to her a kiss of love that would break her curse and whisk her away to a life of Happily Ever After. While Apple’s current life wasn’t bad by any definition, it _would_ be once the story repeated itself for her. She would leave the comfy castle and adoring subjects of her parents’ kingdom and spend some amount of time in the same home as her future-nemesis Raven Queen who would follow the storyline of her own mother as Apple’s wicked step…err, queen. There were some details from the original tales that underwent alterations in these reenactments.

Daring’s destiny was to be the valiant and heroic savior. He was aware that what he currently felt for Apple wasn’t quite to the level of “true love” and vice versa, but they and all the rest of the fairytale world were convinced that such feelings could blossom on the actual day of destiny when he saved her. _Then_ they could work on falling in love. That was how things worked out for her parents and much the same for his own. All would be fine.

Therefore, to be prepared for that big day, while he and Apple had agreed to keep things on a friend-only basis between them during their high school years to prevent distraction from their studies or aspirations, which was why his interactions with admirers was viewed as totally fine for everyone, he was always in mind of what his true path was. It would be selfish to let any of his fantastic fans think he could turn his back on that.

It was his destiny. His duty.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since this takes place before Dragon Games, no one knows yet about Legend's "little secret". Which seems like it would be a big oversight, but then, there are a lot of plot holes in this school, so lets just go with it.  
> Daring seems to be the only person who ever interacts with Legend, so I figure they must have a pretty close relationship despite the whole "slaying" business.
> 
> Dapple lovers might be upset about that, but it just doesn't seem like the two are in love with each other. Even Apple mentions that they aren't dating, so I assume love is something they aren't in a rush to confront. Still, I assume Daring knows better than to get in too deep with his fans, knowing that in The End, he's destined for Apple and nobody else.


	2. A Matter of Identity

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's time to receive Legacy Day outfits, but things don't seem to be quite as planned for Daring. He makes a call to King Charming and King White to learn what's going on, and how Snow White may be involved.

Daring had just enough time after freshening up to put his backpack into his locker when Headmaster Grimm’s face appeared on the MirrorScreen in the hallway.

“Attention, students,” the headmaster said. “I hope you are all having a royally splendid morning as today is _Legacy Day_.” Cheers rang out from majority of the populace, most of which being the Second Year “Legacy” students with some of the upperclassmen chiming in their encouragement. The first years, also called the “Freedom Years” watched the ongoing excitement with anticipation of their own Legacy year.

If some of the students didn’t seem quite so excited, well, it was probably just nerves.

The happy exclamations must have reached all the way to the headmaster’s office as the usually gruff man wore a smile of contentment. “As you all know, in celebration of this upcoming event, morning classes have been canceled for all grades. At this time, Second Year students will be receiving their _Heirloom outfits_ , clothes that represent the characters of each individual destiny and will be worn today to the Legacy Day ceremony. Those who have arranged a transport service with their parents may await deliveries within their dormitories. For the remaining students whose clothes are in possession of the school, please report outside for distribution.”

The mirrors hadn’t even switched off before students started moving, some back to their dorms and others towards the front doors of the building. This was the crowd that Daring followed and as he made his way out with the rest, he spied a particular prince among the herd.

“Hey, Dex!” he called out and swiftly cut through the throng to stand beside his (slightly) younger brother, Dexterous Charming.

“Hey, Dare,” the brunette prince greeted him with a smile, adjusting his always-slipping black frames after Daring had clapped him on the back. “I didn’t see you at breakfast. Headmaster Grimm ordered catering today so we had actual _edible_ food. He probably didn’t want Hagatha’s cooking to give anyone a stomach ache.”

Daring chuckled at this too-plausible possibility. “I had to see to Legend this morning. But maybe I can get something from Book End after I get my clothes.”

“Yeah, the clothes.” Hearing the odd way he said this, Daring peaked over at his brother and couldn’t help but grin at the barely contained excitement written on the boy’s face. He laughed a little.

“Today’s finally the big day!” Daring declared with a kingly voice and his usual broad smile, despite that the Headmaster had told him previously not to flash his teeth around so much. He’d already disobeyed that command on the first day of school so what more harm could he do? Tiny the Giant wasn’t even around this time! “Are you excited?”

“Yeah, I am, actually,” Dexter admitted, his own smile almost as wide as his brother’s. “I finally get to find out what my destiny is. I feel like I’ve been waiting forever after. Maybe more than anyone else has.”

Daring nodded. His brother probably _had_ been more excited for this day than anyone. Even more than Apple White, who was known throughout the school for her steadfast views to achieving her destiny. But unlike her and almost every other student in Ever After High, Dexter had never known what exactly his Fairytale Legacy was supposed to be. He, like his brother and sister, was of the famous Charming family, a large clan of fairytale characters that never had pre-destined parts in any one tale because many stories had need of characters that they could not provide from their own lineage. The basic principles of fairytales often had characters marrying each other by their ends and their offspring couldn’t exactly “recreate” the roles of their parents if that would include marrying each other. So from this obvious plot-hole had come the tradition of picking Charming family members who weren’t delivered these roles by parents but by “destiny”.

For the particular branch of the clan that Dexter and his siblings came from, called the Charmings of the Mountain Ridge, the dominant values they could provide for their stories were roles of heroes and damsels. Half of their relatives were destined to rescue people from all manner of evil and misfortune while the other half was to be victims of these misfortunes. Not really fair, no, but it was how things went. So, while their beautiful and noble sister, Darling Charming, might one day become a prisoner of some spell or beast and require a prince (from a non-related family, of course) to help her, Dexter and Daring were to be the rescuing heroes of whatever stories they received. And unlike Daring, Dexter hadn’t been revealed his destined role by some twist of fate at a young age, so he was still in the dark over what all his heroic training up to this point had been to the purpose of. But today he would finally learn by opening the Storybook of Legends and reading what future it foretold.

Seeing the overwhelming joy on his usually quiet and withdrawn sibling’s face, Daring wished he could pull out his MirrorPhone and take a picture of that look. He was just sooo cute! The blond prince always thought that of his little siblings, but he knew better than to make that known out loud. Neither of them would care for such admirations from him, so he kept them to himself. Instead, he said, “I wonder how cousin Cherished did with the clothing designs we asked her for. I tried to get some clues from her during the last Family Ball, but she was very tightlipped about them.”

“I don’t know, but I’m sure they’re great. And, uh,” his face turned a bit nervous as he smiled at Daring, “Thanks for saying that before, about wanting to share Dad’s clothes.”

“No problem, Little Bro,” Daring declared, clapping his arm around the boy’s shoulders in one of their usual displays of brotherly affection. “After all, this is a rare opportunity for multiple Charmings of the same family to have the same Legacy Year. We should make it special, you know?”

“Yeah, but you didn’t have to suggest splitting them up. You’re the oldest, so they were supposed to go to you.”

“Well, I think it’s more important that we both get a little from it. Plus, everyone else gets to make a few alterations to their clothes if they want. Even Darling will have a few changes made from Mom’s gown.”

“Not that she appreciated it,” Dexter pointed out, remembering their mother’s comment about adding on more lace and skirts and jewels to the dress she declared was too plain for this era of fashion. Their sister would definitely stand out amongst the crowd, whether she wanted to or not.

“Yes, but if she can get a few things changed, we can, too. So we’ll share the Charming finery and we’ll get to still be unique as well. The perfect set up.”

Dexter nodded at this idea but before he had time to add anything else, the crowd had come to stop out in the courtyards. All eyes turned up in amazement as a large stack of wrapped boxes towered high into the air and still growing as a troll unloaded the delivery cart that had brought them from the school’s secret storage facility. Standing front and center of the pile was their literacy teacher, Professor Jack. B. Nimble who held a clipboard in his hand and looked out over the crowd thanks to his long spindly legs. Beside him floated Madam Baba Yaga on her washtub, who with her slightly intimidating air as a powerful sorceress, was probably there to keep things orderly.

“Greetings, Legacy Day students,” Professor Nimble called out, his voice as loud and full of energy as always. “What we have behind me is a good portion of the heirloom outfits that you’ll be receiving. And judging from my list, everyone’s parents have confirmed their shipping and made accountable those sets of costumes stored by the school, so no worries of showing up to the ceremony in your pajamas.” This got a laugh from the students. “As I check off names, Madam Yaga will supply your box and as I’m sure many of you have noticed their rather small sizes, have no worries. Each has an expanded bottom so your clothes and other trinkets of your wardrobe will fit inside without a wrinkle. Drop them off in your dorm rooms and feel free to try them on, but please no uploading photos to social media until the ceremony time arrives. For any further alterations needed, see Professor Momma Bear in the Home Economyths room but you _mus_ t limit viewing among others. After all, keeping an air of surprise increases the ‘wow’ factor of the event.”

And so it began. As Professor Nimble read the tags and checked them off his list, Madam Yaga used her magic powers to levitate each individual package out to the crowd and into the waiting arms of its intended student. There were giddy squeals and cheers among the population and some recipients couldn’t help but peak in to admire whatever items they could make out. Description of their clothes were _completely_ different from showing them off.

“It’s gorgeous. There are so many glittery gem stones!”

“Real gold pins. And a platinum crown? Wicked!”

“I love these colors! It’s just like my dad’s.”

As the boxes floated left and right, Daring had pulled out one of his hand mirrors and was doing his hourly hair checks. Even with the distraction he could almost feel Dexter’s excitement growing as his turn approached. _Charming_ was pretty high on an alphabetized list, so once Daring was given his own package, _then_ Dexter would get to see his. He was sure it would be almost as regal as his own. Cherished was a remarkable clothes designer.

Finally, one box floated directly overhead of the royal siblings and descending their way. Not taking his eyes off his mirror, Daring nonchalantly reached out a hand to catch the floating parcel…

Only to be caught off guard when the package evaded his grip and instead flew into the arms of Dexter.

“What…” Daring looked up in confusion. That couldn’t be right. Alphabetically, the name “Daring” came before “Dexterous”, and since Darling would be receiving her outfit shipped directly to her bedroom in order to avoid crowds of fawning boys, Dexter still should have come at least second to Daring. There was some kind of a mistake here.

However, seeing how pleased the boy was holding the box in his hands and walking back to the building, Daring decided to shrug this off and wait for his own turn. “Saving the best for last” was a term he didn’t mind. He was fine to wait.

And wait. And wait.

After some time of waiting, as the mountain degraded to just a few boxes left and majority of the crowd had left, Daring began to suspect something was amiss. It wasn’t until the very last box had been given away and he alone remained of the students that he ventured to see what might be wrong.

“If you’ll excuse me, Professor,” Daring approached the man, appearing as composed and assured as possible despite his confusion. “I seem to be missing my own royal outfit. Is there a chance that it’s been misplaced?”

Professor Nimble donned a confused face, not having noticed that one of the students had been left out, and started searching back through the pages of his list to confirm the boy was on it.

“Let me see here. Charming…Charming….Ahh. It seems that Mister Dexter was expected for school-regulated pick up, but both you and Miss Darling are to receive personal delivery to your dorms.”

“Oh.” Daring blinked. He hadn’t heard anything about this from his parents when they explained how Darling’s clothes would be delivered. But then, maybe they just didn’t want to risk anything happening to his, like misplacement or damages. His Legacy Day was one of the biggest among their family this generation and he needed to look more than perfect for it.

“Alright, then. I’ll head back to get mine,” Daring said with a confident grin and, giving a swift thanks to his teacher, strode off back to the boys’ dorm.

Safe to say it was quite a mad house by the time he reached his floor, as not just students, but various forms of animals and pixies were flitting around in the halls. Seeing creatures in the school was nothing really new or surprising. Animal companions and pets were freely accepted into the residential area so long as they were relatively small and non-destructive. His own pet, a male peafowl by the name of P-Hawk, preferred to live in the woods rather than the noisy dormitory.

These creature, however, were clearly employed for delivery purposes, carrying parcels that had to be given out to the boys of the dorm. It was also pretty clear to guess who was receiving what delivery service. A flock of clucking chickens were heading to the door of Humphrey Dumpty, the cluster of pixies were that future forest wizard from Daring’s homeroom, and a wandering fox with a green fedora was trying to find Sparrow Hood, apparently unaware that the teen lived in a treehouse out in the woods.

As he walked through them all, Daring had to stop short when a cluster of frogs hopped in front of him, a box balanced between them. He immediately guessed they were here for Hopper.

The Charming prince followed the little herd to his own room, amazed that they seemed to know where they were heading without even looking at the dorm postings, and opened the door to allow easier entry. Other students might not feel so nonchalant about a herd of slimy animals going into their living space, but Daring was long passed such conceptions after a year of being roommates with the future Frog Prince himself. A little slime (or “mucus” as the boy would sometimes correct him) wouldn’t affect a hero who had to take a swamp swimming course in Grimmnastics.

Hopper, who’d been sitting anxiously on his bed, beamed when he saw the group. “Terrific.” As he came to stand before the colony of amphibians, all bowed their green heads to him in respect for their prince. Hopper, giving them a polite bow of his own, reached out to lift the parcel from their tiny shoulders.

“Thanks a bunch, you guys!” he gushed, looking at the box with pure joy. “This is…I mean, its’s so….uh…”

The boy was lost for words and as always, his curse kicked in. With a poof and small cloud of smoke and sparkles, he plopped to the ground as a bright green frog. Daring wouldn’t have been able to tell him apart from the rest if not for the red bowtie still around his neck and the little gold crown perched regally on his head.

Straightening his miniature crown, which had become skewed during his change, Hopper raised himself up on his thin green legs and in a voice both regal and poetic, began his acceptance speech. “I bid thee my most sincere gratitude, dear brethren of the pond. Being your prince is by far the greatest position of my life and I greatly look forward to following my destiny as your future king. So declares Prince Hopper Croakington the Second.”

A chorus of ribbits applauded him and with their meeting now complete, Daring held the door once more for the group to make their exit. One thing for sure about having Hopper as a friend, it was never a dull moment.

“So, will I need to find you a princess to kiss or do you think your clothes will fit your frog form,” Daring teased the small being. Hopper replied by sticking out his tongue which in his current froggy state stretched out a foot in distance. He took a few moments to calm himself down and as his little heartbeat returned to normal rhythm, the spell dissolved and he stretched himself up to full human height, a wide smile splitting his freckled face.

“You’re just jealous you don’t have a heard of animals coming to cheer on your rise to destiny,” Hopper declared, once again picking up the box he’d dropped during his transformation. “Those frogs came from the Ever After High pond and had to hop a long way to get this here from the post office, _then_ up all those stairs. It’s a good thing there’s that Legacy Day treaty going on or all those beasts of prey out there would have eaten them for brunch. They’re quite brave.”

“Truly,” Daring agreed, then grinned smugly. “But I’m sure whatever beings my parents have chosen to deliver my own royal vestments will be just as fitting for my destiny as yours have been. And I’m also sure, with whatever valiant creatures they are, they’ll be without the same amount of slime, at least.”

Again he was greeted by Hopper’s protruding tongue, much shorter now, and while the boy turned away, he began digging around in his parcel of clothes. This left Daring to sit reclined on his own bed, daydreaming about what might be on its way right now. A miniature dragon? A griffin? A wave of trumpeting fairies?

A tapping came at the window on his side of the dorm, completely ignorant of the open balcony on the opposite side. Daring immediately leapt up, sweeping aside the royal blue curtains and flinging open the glass panes to greet the arrivals.

But rather than the dwarf griffin or dragon, he was met by a flock of doves. Pure white wings flapped hard as they each held a string of red ribbon from their feet in order to support the wrapped box they had brought. Daring’s first thought was that they’d made a mistake, found their way to the wrong window, and were instead heading to the dorm of someone like Ashlynn Ella or even Hunter Huntsman; someone with a destiny that related specifically to such ordinary and non-threatening animals. However, as he looked at their box, he could clearly see the Charming family crest and his own name printed across the top where it couldn’t be missed. It was meant for him.

Shocked and quite a bit embarrassed, Daring stood aside to let them enter his bedroom, drifting over to place the box on the foot of his bedcovers before flocking across his footboard. He was completely blindsided by this strange choice of delivery animals. Why _doves_ of all things? In what way were they reflective of a heroic legacy?

The leader of the flock cooed loudly and the prince noticed that it held in its beak a letter stamped with a wax seal of a family he knew almost as well as his own.

Gingerly taking the postage, he pulled it open and poured over its contents.

 

Prince Daring Charming   
Boys Dorm, East Window, Second Story  
Ever After High

_To Prince Daring,_

_This postage is to confirm that the delivery of your Legacy Day outfit has reached you without damage and in full capacity._

_Her Majesty Queen Snow White has felt that, as the destined prince of her highness Princess Apple White, it would be a splendid idea that you represent your future destiny by donning the heirloom clothes of the previous Prince Charming of the same story, His Majesty King White, for your Legacy Day Ceremony. The Queen believes that these clothes will better express the expectations of your destiny and will look much better in the ceremony should you be photographed alongside Princess Apple. These clothes were designed for proper coordination among the_ Snow White _characters._

_Your parents, Dr. King and Queen Charming are awaiting your confirmation by phone once you receive this delivery._

_To confirm the delivery to the House of Snow White, please sign your signature at the bottom, reseal, and return to the delivery dove._

_Sincerely,_

_The Desk of Snow White_

 

At the bottom, just like on the envelope, was the White Family royal seal.

Daring hummed. He should have been expecting something like this to happen. After all, Apple’s destiny was huge; like, _unbelievably_ important. He should have realized the priority of that destiny meant a lot more than his singular roll as a generic Prince Charming. It made a lot of sense that way. But even so…

The dove cooed again and Daring, shaking his head, went over to his desk to find a quill and a fresh envelope already marked as Charming family stationary which he’d received as a back-to-school gift. He quickly left his signature on the prescribed line of the letter and slipped it into the new envelope before sealing it with his own crest (though this was just a sticker).

That finished, he handed over the letter to the dove who gave a cluck of appreciation. After bobbing its head as a bow to the prince and prodding its companions to do the same, they flew off his bedframe and took to the window, heading back towards White Castle.

“Doves?” Daring turned around to see Hopper looking at him, a smug and teasing smile on his face which reflected what he’d received just minutes prior. “Your parents sent _doves_ to deliver your clothes? What did they send for your sister, a migration of butterflies?”

“Possibly,” Daring answered, knowing his parents no doubt found the most beautiful delivery service they could for his sister, then turned back to answer the first question. “But this didn’t come from them. Snow White sent it.”

That made the amphibious boy drop his smile and take on a look of awe and amazement.

“Whoa!” he said, studying the box with reverence in his eyes. “The queen sent you clothes? That’s awesome!”

“Yeah. Awesome,” Daring said softly, gazing at the closed box for a moment. Then, he took out his MirrorPhone and hit a number on his contacts list. It took a few rings, but after punching in the number for the extension of his father’s office, it was immediately picked up.

“Hello, Son,” Dr. King Charming’s handsome face appeared. The man usually preferred not to MirrorChat with anyone but his children, no doubt because of how Mirror Daemons tended to act up when his face was before them. Daring’s phone, like Dexter’s and Darling’s, was specially made to fend them off, so no ugly monsters could interrupt their conversations. “A fine Legacy Day morning to you.”

“Same to you, Father,” Daring said, bowing his head since he couldn’t shake the man’s hand. Now, with the preliminary formalities out of the way, he was free to talk plainly to his father. “I was calling to talk with you about my heirloom outfit for the day. Instead of getting mine out in the courtyard, a group of songbirds just brought it to my window. _Songbirds_ , Dad!”

“Ahh, so Snow White has already delivered them to you,” the King nodded, pretending not to notice his son’s distress. Or, maybe he really _didn’t_ notice since his eyes were facing off screen, maybe to some kind of work he was in the middle of. Or to a mirror. “That’s good. I’m sure that they are to your liking.”

Daring almost responded that he hadn’t actually seen them yet, but just went right to the point. “I wanted to know _why_ the queen sent them. I thought I was to be wearing _your_ Prince Charming heirloom clothes. Well, at least _half_ of them.”

“Yes, well, that _was_ originally the plan as Cherished pointed out,” King Charming agreed, still not looking at him. Daring saw the tip of a quill twitching rapidly as he went on with his work. “However, before I could acquire those clothes, we received a personal visit from Snow White and she proposed that you, as the future King White, would be better suited to wearing the apparel of _that_ role than of mine.”

“But…I’m not even _Prince_ White.”

“No, but you will be. As Apple White’s designated prince, it is your destiny to take on that role and as this is Legacy Day, you should exemplify it for all to see, following the traditions of your forefathers. You will wear them with pride.” He looked up then and gave his eldest son a stern look, a hint of challenge in his squinted eyes. “Will you not?”

“Of course, sir.” Daring answered then swiftly pasted on his more charming smile. “I’m honored to wear them.”

“Good,” the king replied. “Before the ceremony, I want you to check in on your brother and your sister to ensure that all is going smoothly with them today, then you will escort your sister to the ceremony. I’m certain Darling will be properly dressed and attended to by the fairies we hired to help her. The gown your mother picked out is a bit more complex than she would be used to. As for your brother, he will be wearing _my_ Legacy outfit for today.”

“Oh…that’s great.” Daring’s smile became a bit stiff around the corners, but his father again didn’t see this.

“Yes. Cherished did insist on ‘updating’ the look a bit, so she changed the colors and designs to be more suited for Dexter. However, the clasps are difficult for one Charming to handle alone and rather than hire more help for the task, I want you to show your brother how to properly wear them. Is that understood?”

“Yes, sir,” Daring agreed. After a quick goodbye, the called ended.

Daring looked over his shoulder. Hopper, excited to try on his heirloom outfit, had sequestered himself into their bathroom so he could change. Daring looked back at his phone and after a moment of deliberation, dialed another number lower down the list of his contacts.

This one took a bit longer to get through as he didn’t have an extension number for the person he wanted to speak with and so, after following the computerized instructions for navigating to the department of personnel, was greeted by a receptionist.

“This is White Towers,” the gruff voice spoke, clearly one of the many dwarf employees hired by the royal family for their business. “How may I help you?”

“Greetings. This is Prince Daring Charming,” Daring introduced himself, putting bravado into his tone. “I’d like to contact King White, if you’d be so kind.”

“Just a moment, Mr. Charming,” the dwarf answered, completely ignoring his royal title. There was a sound of clattering computer keys. “Yes, I see you are on the list of acceptable non-appointment callers. I’ll connect you to His Majesty shortly.”

A call waiting tune of forest sounds played. After a few moments, another voice picked up. “Once upon a ‘hi’. This is King White speaking."

As usual when he heard the voice of Apple’s father, Daring felt a twinge of anxiety building in his stomach. He wondered if this was what it must feel like sometimes for other children of set stories when they spoke to their parents, addressing the predecessors of their destiny, the icons of themselves, and knowing that they were expected to become just like them.

Daring revered his own father, King Charming, second head of the Charming’s of the Mountain Ridge (under his Grandmother and Grandfather, of course) who was Daring’s first hero as a legacy figure. But though he looked up to the man, he had _another_ legacy figure he was supposed to be emulating and that was King White, the once charming prince of the story of _Snow White_. Two figures to admire. Two types of destinies he was expected to play at the same time.

“Good day to you, King White,” Daring greeted him formally in a way he rarely did with his own father. “This is Prince Daring Charming calling to converse with you.”

“Ahh, Daring, my boy,” the man’s voice rang with familiarity. “It’s quite swell to hear from you. Why, we haven’t spoken since that trip we took into the Wild Woods during the summer vacation, don’t you remember?”

“Yes, sir.” Daring resisted the urge to groan as he remembered _that_ particular outing. It had been just him and King White out on one of the man’s most favored of hobbies: nature study. Nothing the king of the realms liked more than exploring all manner of woods, collecting data on the flora and fauna of them all. He knew every type of tree enchanted, haunted, and normal, and held a registry of every woodland animal that at some point in time had or possibly would come to the aid of his wife or child.

Ironically, so long ago, it had been this hobby that had led him to discover Snow White’s sleeping figure in the middle of the Dark Woods and thus serving his destiny as her prince. A destiny he hadn’t been expecting to stumble upon when he went out that day to look in on a few new species of rabbits and daisies. So, he’d justified inviting Daring into an outdoor adventure as a kind of “training” for when he’d need to enter a dangerous forest himself and track down Apple White when the time came. Daring was grateful for the sentiment, but not too impressed by the task.

“That was quite a fun little trip, I think. Lots of things to see and a lot to discover, too. Don’t you think?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Yes, indeed. Why, I couldn’t believe the kinds of apple blossoms that had mutated in the last blossoming seasons. Nature is quite interesting, don’t you think?”

“Yes, sir.” King White had a habit of letting his tangents run away with him even in the middle of a conversation. As Daring had long ago been made aware of, it was easier to just wait for him to work his way back on topic.

“Yes. I agree with that. So, what is it that you were calling to speak of with me, Daring? Was it, by chance, relating to a new species of plant you’ve found on the Ever After campus? I hear that charm blossoms sprout at about this time so that would be quite wonderful to see. Don’t you think?”

“That’s true, your majesty, but the actual reason I called was regarding something else.”

That got the man’s attention. “Well, say as you wish.”

“Your majesty, I’m sure you know that today is Legacy Day….”

“Ah yes, I’ve already had a MirrorChat with my dear Apple three times this very morning about that. Quite excited she was, not that I could blame her. It’s a wonderful ceremony for you children to experience, don’t you think?”

“Yes, your highness.” And he _did_ agree with that. “But I wanted to talk to you about the clothes that have been delivered to me,” Daring spoke quick, hoping to make his point before he was interrupted again. “I was sent _your_ heirloom clothes to wear.”

“Ahh, yes. That is correct. Although, technically they aren’t really ‘Legacy Day’ apparel, per say. Those were from the uniform I wore while being crowned Prince of my kingdom before I even played my role as the Prince of Destiny. Snow White had a few adjustments made to them to better compliment her own Legacy Day outfit for Apple so the two of you would match.”

“Yes, sir, but can I ask you _why_ this was sent to me? I know I’m to be Apple’s prince in the future, but at the moment…”

“Daring, my boy,” the king’s voice was suddenly serious though not stern as his own father’s would be. His was soft and laced with understanding. “Destiny is a very mysterious phenomena. We have no idea when the moment to claim it will arrive upon us. So accepting and embracing our roles as soon as possible can be a great decision.” The elder man let out a sigh then remarked, in an apologetic tone, “I had a feeling that you might not wish to wear those. I mentioned it to Queen White, that you would prefer to wear the clothing of your own family, but she was adamant that it was for the best and your parents wholeheartedly agreed to it. After all, they said, they had two additional children who could wear the clothes of Charming legacy so it was no large problem to have one of their sons dedicate his Legacy Day to his future in more destiny-appropriate clothes.”

That sounded like his parents, Daring thought to himself. Very practical, but incredibly strict about the family rules of destiny.

“I know it’s too late by now to offer you something different to wear…”

“Oh no, sir. I’m fine with these clothes,” Daring cut in, again not mentioning how he hadn’t even opened the box to view what he’d been sent. “I will wear your dignified garments of royalty with true pride.”

“That’s the spirit!” King White’s voice was again merry and animated. “We all look forward to the MirrorShots of the event. You and my daughter will look quite regal beside each other, don’t you think?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Excellent. Well, I have to get back to work here. Quite a lot of things a king of the lands must do. Spell-checking documents, answering request letters from citizens; a lot of things you can’t just ask a dwarf to take care of for you. Oh, perhaps you can join Apple in visiting us for your next break, or during your Yester Day internship. You know I’d gladly give you another tour of the White Wood here. And after that, show you how I set up my office.”

“Yes, sir.” Keeping the unwilling tone out of his reply was harder than it should have been. Another tour around the pleasant, non-monster-infested woods of White Kingdom? Studying how King White handled a mountain of paperwork? Boring central, for sure!

“I’ll see you then. The End.” And the line went silent.

“Tah-Dah!” The door to the bathroom swung open and standing in the threshold was Hopper, decorated in his Legacy Day outfit and matching finery. Daring had to admit he looked pretty great. His green-patterned jacket with attached fur-collared cape was surprisingly well-matched with his pink and black vest. The vest was buttoned up over his red shirt and a green bow tie replaced the usual red one. With a sweep of his arm, Hopper gave his roommate a regal bow for affect and revealed the golden medal hanging around his neck that glinted as brightly as his large gold crown set into a lining of purple felt.

The Frog Prince cut a regal, colorful figure.

“Quite impressive, Hopper,” Daring applauded, glad to see _someone_ was having a sterling time today.

“Yeah, I know.” Hopper grinned broadly. “I only got to see these clothes in a portrait Dad had drawn up for him, so I never knew what colors they were.” He looked at himself in one of Daring’s floor-length mirrors (the boy had plenty to share) and rotated to see how he looked. “Maybe a bit brighter than I would have liked, but still royally cool by frog standards! What about yours?”

Oh, right. Daring hesitantly approached the package still on his bed, then shook off his trepidation. He was a Charming; he would face destiny bravely. He threw open the box with a flair.

Inside of it was…wow.

“Oh my Grimm,” the prince gasped. He pulled a dark blue jacket out by the shoulders, careful of the tasseled pieces attached to them, and held it up to look oer the other items in the obox. It was a full scale princely outfit, all right, with beautiful golden buttons, embroidered jacket, a cape, and…was that a sash? He’d always wanted to wear a real kingly sash!

Overcome with excitement, Daring hurriedly dug through box to see what else might be there and sure enough, he found the extra accessories at the extended bottom. Gold-platted boots and the most magnificently ornate crown he’d ever seen for a Charming. Even his own father’s crown wasn’t this decorated. Lifting the head piece out past the rest of the clothes, Daring held it up to his face and just admired it for a long time.

Like Hopper’s, it was gold in color but his held many more prongs around the rim in the true style of Charming headwear, little colorful gems scattered all around. Despite that it was King White’s clothes, Queen White had been sure to make it as Charming-friendly as she could. Given that it had to pass by the approval of the Charming Committee of Appropriate Apparel before he’d be allowed to wear it, no doubt it was hard work.

Daring hummed, then smiled to himself. They all really wanted him to dress like Apple’s prince, play that role in her story and eventually be her hero. So many people wanted him to look the part and thought the part would look good on him, so who was he to disagree? If the Queen requested it, he would obey.

He was just starting to shrug off his letterman jacket when the school bell rang, marking the end of their free morning period and now time for afternoon classes. He’d have to wait until later to try out his clothes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quite a bit of exposition in this chapter, but it's all necessary for the story. Probably.
> 
> A/N1: I'm adding a lot of my own headcannons. "Charmings of the Mountain Ridge" comes from how they describe the castles in "Dexter's Story" and "Darling's Story", as well as the tapestry we see of their parents in "Thronecoming" (at least, I'm pretty sure that's supposed to be the Charmings.)
> 
> A/N2: I picture Daring as something of a doting big brother to Dexter and Darling. He always seems to have his arms around them and hanging out with them. Despite how self-centered he acts, he honestly tries to help them out. They certainly seem to care about him, too, so I think it makes sense.
> 
> A/N3: Those weird boxes everyone is carrying around in the "Legacy Day" webisode were never given an explanation, so I gave them one. According to Shannon Hale's book, Apple and Raven received their clothes from an outside source and from the school respectively, so why not everyone else?
> 
> A/N4: As for Snow White and King White, again, I'm using my own imagination for these things. Snow White definitely seems to be a control freak in "Dragon Games" so I think she'd definitely be in Daring's business just as much as Apple's (she even had his picture on her popularity polls) all for the sake of legacy. King White makes almost no appearances in the franchise except for a mentioning in "Apple's Story". Apple had to get her (sometimes oblivious) perkiness from somewhere, so why not her dad? He mostly hangs around in the background taking care of the legal stuff while Snow White rules the kingdom. He looks forward to having a son-in-law to help him out, not that Daring is excited for such a fate. That stuff about his nature-study hobby is also just headcannon. It could all become completely irrelevant if Mattel ever actually explores some of these parents.
> 
> A/N5: That "mucus, not slime" thing was pinched from Disney's "Princess and the Frog". For obvious reasons.


	3. The Trouble with Apple

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Apple isn't her chipper self today. With Raven still not applying herself to their story, there may be trouble on the horizon. Good thing Daring is here to comfort his Princess, even if he has his own doubts.

As Daring entered into Crownculus class, he took his usual seat beside Dexter, who was passing the time until their teacher arrived by playing games on his MirrorPhone. Likewise, Daring turned to his own form of entertainment: his mirror. In his opinion, there was no better way to pass a day than to admire one’s handsome face in a mirror. Even after sixteen years of watching his own handsomeness develop from child-cute to teen-gorgeous, he never ceased to find something in his reflection that would catch his eye and make him so happy that this was _his_ face. The strong lines of his jaw, the straightness of his nose; even the length of his eyebrows was at any moment viable to make some sort of developmental change and he wanted to always be sure that he looked his best. His looks were _everything_.

From the corner of his eye, he caught a flash of red and glanced over to see Apple White trudging into their classroom. This was rather odd because when the enchanting Apple White entered a place, she usually brought a glow of sunshine and happy energy, along with the occasional woodland animals which followed after her magnificence like butterflies to flowers. As it was, while she _did_ light up the room with her spun-gold locks and fair skin that practically glowed in the light from the windows, her energy was definitely not up to how he’d thought she would be on today of all days. Rather than her usual queenly smile for everyone, she was sporting a frown as if something was deeply troubling her.

But today was Legacy Day! It was a day she’d dreamed of for as long as he’d known her. What could possibly be making her unhappy?

Usually, when Apple was having an issue, it would be the currently-sleeping Briar Beauty who would come to her comfort; she rarely came to Daring for anything non-heroic and he never made a point to infer that she needed him unless she asked him to perform a task. This look, however, was one he’d come to recognize pretty well over the last few weeks so he had a pretty good idea what had brought her down.

Looking around and seeing everyone else occupied with their own issues, Daring took a chance to lean over the end of his desk so he could whisper to Apple one level down from him.

“Raven still not getting with the program?” he asked. She didn’t turn to face him, but Apple nodded her confirmation while letting out an audible sigh of distress.

Raven Queen, daughter of the Evil Queen and the destined villainess of their story, had been something of a problem this year, both to Apple and to Headmaster Grimm. Ever since their first Legacy Day practice on the start of the school year, she’d been showing certain tendencies. _Rebellious_ tendencies. She was asking a lot of destiny-related questions, challenging old traditional ideas and most of all, she wasn’t behaving like a character of her destiny should. No summoning of giant monsters, no blasting things with spells, not even wearing a consistent scary expression on her face. It was very worrying for the story’s heroes.

Daring liked Raven all right as she was. As a close acquaintance of Apple and a fellow royal by birth, they’d known each other for a while. Plus, unlike in a lot of stories, it wasn’t Daring’s destiny as a hero to fight against her villain character, so they were actually free to be friends and get along. He’d even noticed the friendship that had been sprouting up with her and Dexter which was also fine, though he was having a slight suspicion that just maybe…

Well, whatever _that_ was, it didn’t have any weight for _this_ problem. Raven could be _nice_ , that was fine in his judgment, but if she wasn’t showing signs of following through with her destiny when the time came, then that was going to cause some issues. Apple’s entire role as the next Snow White could only come into order after her running away from an Evil Queen and then being poisoned until Daring arrived to save her. If Raven didn’t play her part, even just temporarily, then neither Apple nor Daring would be able to play theirs. Their tale would be no more. And that was just selfish behavior.

 

* * *

 

Once class ended, Daring bid goodbye to Dexter and caught up with Apple. As usual, without needing to think about it, Apple slipped her arm through his and they strolled through the halls with all the appearance of the perfect Fairytale Couple that they were destined to be, ignoring that they weren’t technically dating at the moment. On both sides of the hall, girls swooned and boys jumped to attention to catch a glimpse of their combined enchanting looks. Apple might not do routine mirror checks or attend meetings of her own fan club, but she had just as large and passionate a following as Daring did and hers extended to both boys _and_ woodland creatures.

As all this fanfare ensued, Apple put on a brave face and gave queenly waves to everyone. But that didn’t hide the desperate way that she was clenching her fingers into Daring’s letterman jacket. She needed something to hold onto in this tidal wave of confusion, and Daring was currently her buoy. Seeing that she needed him now put his mind right into Prince-mode.

“What did Raven do?” he asked once they’d passed the most of the crowds.

Apple sighed. “She’s been avoiding me all day. This morning, she left the room to go see Maddie before I even woke up and right after Headmaster Grimm’s announcement, she had to go all the way down to the dungeon to get her Legacy Day outfit. Apparently, her father gave it to the school to keep until Raven needed it.”

“Ah yes,” Daring nodded. “The Good King probably didn’t want to keep it in their castle since Raven’s mom doesn’t live there anymore. Frankly, I can’t say I blame him.” Who knew what kind of maleficent spells might be contained in the clothing of the most wicked woman in the world? Even though she was technically gone, there was a possibility that her magic lingered.

“And after all that, when I tried to talk to her in the hall, she ran away from me and just disappeared. I haven’t seen her since and we don’t share any other classes today, and I’m worried about what choices she might make during the ceremony. If she doesn’t sign The Storybook of Legends, not only could my destiny fall apart, but so could yours. So could _everyone_ ’s…”

“Fear not, fair Apple,” Daring declared, his voice loud and confident. “I am certain that with time to consider things and after seeing how the both of us bravely face the Storybook, Raven will have no qualms in signing it.”

He avowed this with all the certainty he could muster because, as his mother had told him before, believing in something hard enough allows you to do it. Internally, he was also worried about Raven and how, if she vanished, then likely he and the other _Snow White_ characters would be gone as well. But he chose to stop thinking about that. It wouldn’t happen. Raven was a smart girl; she knew the risks in running from fate. She wouldn’t do something so dangerous that could wipe her and other people from existence. She wasn’t _actually_ her mother; just her mother’s daughter.

Apple took a deep breath, then gave Daring a wonderful smile. “Thanks, Daring. You’re such a superb prince. And I can’t wait to see what the book says about our story together.”

“I’m sure it will foretell a wonderful story. Filled with heroism and…”

“And cute woodland animals,” Apple broke in, her gaze far way. “I can see it all now: running through the forest, living with the animals, caring for the dwarves…oh, it’ll all be so spelltacular!”

“Yes, most definitely. With all the, the _animals_ and the dwarves. And the queen. And…” Daring trailed off then, suddenly feeling a little less confident than he had previously.

Apple didn’t notice, though. She was still all a twitter with thoughts of destiny. At least she wasn’t depressed anymore so, to change the subject, he asked something that had been bothering him. “How did you get your outfit when it arrived?”

“Oh, it was so lovely,” Apple squealed a little, releasing his arm to put her hands up her mouth with glee. “A beautiful family of deer delivered it to me. My mother actually left it in the forests for them to watch over so they delivered everything to me right in the dorm. It was so cute and wonderful.”

Daring nodded stiffly, but knew he wasn’t quite resisting the urge to pout like a child. So Apple got a family of deer but _he_ got _doves_? That just didn’t seem fair.

“And what about you? Did you get the ones my mother sent?”

Daring turned to look at her. “You knew about that?”

“Well of course, silly. It was _my_ idea!” The princess giggled. “I mean, we all know you’re my Prince Charming, so it just made sense that we wear a matching set of destiny clothes, don’t you think?”

“Uhh…”

“I didn’t actually know what my clothes would look like ahead of time, but I _had_ seen Father’s coronation picture in that suit, so I thought with a few alterations it might be just perfect for you to wear when you go up to take the pledge. Then, we can all take a photo together. You, me, and Raven. Oh, and Hunter, too. After all, Headmaster Grimm said we’d all sign one after the other so once Raven signs the book, everything will fall into place and Hunter can wrap it all up.”

“Right,” Daring proclaimed, pushing aside the press of ill thoughts and using his most kingly voice. “I vow to take the lead and sign the book, declaring myself the Prince of our story. Just as destiny has intended.”

“Great,” Apple squealed and in her excitement, she gave him a tight hug before running off to her Damsel-In-Distressing class.

“Yes, great,” Daring said to himself but his own change in a tone took him by surprise. He almost sounded...unwilling? Nonsense! He was Daring Charming. Brave, heroic, and above all, determined. He in no way felt that he wasn’t ready for this. _In no way_!

Shaking his head at such ridiculous musings, he put on a bright smile that always filled him with confidence and self-assurance. Then he sauntered onward to his next class. As he walked, various females sighed and fainted in his wake which bolstered him further.

Today would be glorious.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N1: Daring and Raven have an interesting relationship. In the "True Hearts Day" webisode, they seem to not mind one another, despite what she did to their story together. He's quick to give her attention and she seems intrigued when she thinks he likes her. I guess since they were never destined to directly conflict each other, there are no lingering animosities.
> 
> A/N2: The scenario of Apple and Raven's outfit delivery came from Shannon Hale's "The Storybook of Legends".


	4. Both Sides of the Coin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone has their own views and motivations for signing the Book. But some seem more reluctant than others. In the midst of all this confusing talk, could Daring be having his own doubts?

“All right, class. That’ll be enough for today,” Professor Knight declared, clapping his wrinkled hands. “We have to cut today’s class short so that everyone has enough time to prepare for the ceremony.”

“Yes, Professor Knight, sir,” the students of Heroics 101 saluted their teacher before heading off. Their usual teacher, who happened to be Daring’s father, Dr. King Charming, hadn’t been able to come into school much this year. He’d been busy making alliances with kingdoms and other kingly business, so the heroics class was always being swapped around to other teachers like Professor Knight, or Couch Gingerbread. Whoever could fit the bill for what the day’s lesson needed.

It was too bad. He would have wanted his father to be sitting among the faculty when he took the stage. To see his father’s proud face there to see him, the current Prince Charming, and not just the future King White.

He wanted to be seen for himself.

 

“Are you dudes ready for the big fiasco?” Sparrow Hood asked his classmates as they finished dressing into their usual clothes.

“Fiasco?” Hopper repeated, looking at his friend in confusion. “Why would it be a fiasco? It’s going to be amazing!”

Sparrow scoffed, then with a wicked grin, swung his bright green electric guitar off of his back and into his arms. Around him, others flinched as he played a few piercing guitar riffs. While the son of the famed Robin Hood liked to consider himself a musician, people had problems comparing his sounds to anything like music. Admittedly, he had some talent for the guitar, but only if he wasn’t just screaming out whatever was on his mind at the moment.

“YOU ARE SUCH A ROYAL!~”

This was not one of those better times.

“Dude, seriously, this kind of stuff is only ‘amazing’ if you get some big _Happily Ever After_ ,” he said these hallmark words in a mocking tone, still strumming notes while he spoke. “But for us down here on Commoners’ Street, it’s just a boring formality. I mean, even if that silly book didn’t exist, I’d still go out and ‘rob from the rich’, though the ‘giving’ part might be geared more to myself than the poor. All in all, I’m still going to just do what I want, especially if I can keep up my music, too.”

“Nonsense,” Daring waved away this silly idea, always at odds with the future robber simply on principal. “Even those not destined for crowns should be proud of their stories. It’s an honor to fulfill these parts.”

“Oh, yeah? Then let’s ask another non-crown-wearer what _he_ thinks. Hey, Hunter!” The _other_ green-clad boy looked up from his MirrorPhone and glanced to his counterpart. Did he look a little bit flustered? “Need you to settle something, dude.”

“Uh, sure, guys,” Hunter Huntsman said, smiling nervously. “What’s up?”

“The _princes_ here say that destiny is, like, the griffin’s feathers, and _I_ think it only spells when you get wealth at the end. So what do you say?”

“Uh, well, I...”

“I mean, after all, your job is to _cut down_ a few unfortunate destinies, right?” Sparrow cut in, his expression sly as he looked to the others. There was no doubt in their minds that he was destined for a villain’s role, even if he was technically a hero, too. “You’re supposed to _put the ax_ to a big bad Wolf when it takes a bite at Red Riding Hood. And you’re also supposed to go after Snow White, right? So I guess you should have an interesting outlook on how bad destiny might get.”

Hearing these words, Hunter suddenly went pale, an eerie sight for one so tanned from all that time outdoors. “Uh…” He seemed incapable of any more words than that, a haunted look in his eyes. You could almost see images of a metal ax taking swipes at a wolf—perhaps one that looked just like their teacher Mr. Badwolf—to save a cowering Cerise Hood, flashing through his mind.

“Not necessarily,” Dexter spoke up, coming to his roommate’s rescue. “I mean, Mr. Badwolf wasn’t hurt when he went after Red Riding Hood and Hunter’s dad stopped him. So maybe, when you have to save Cerise playing her mother’s part, you don’t really have to _hurt_ the wolf. Just scare them away.”

“You…you think?” Hunter gasped, seeming to come back to himself.

“Yeah, sure. Well, I mean, I think so. I’m not really an expert or anything on how these things work but it’s a strong possibility.” Dexter smiled awkwardly, trying to be supportive but not quite nailing his look of confidence. Daring would need to give him a few pointer later. “I mean, if someone came busting in and swinging an ax, _I_ would certainly drop any little pigs or grannies and take off running.”

In unison, everyone pictured Mr. Badwolf cowering from Hunter with one arm around own of the little pigs and the other around an old lady. But then they remembered that he was supposed to be dressed up like that old lady while doing this and once that thought set in, the group of boys burst into laughter.

He might not be top of their heroics class, but Dexter certainly had a way with his friends.

“Hey,” someone called out to them. “Can you guys keep it down, please?”

The students spied none other than Humphrey Dumpty, son of the most famously unbalanced egg of all time, in his natural element atop a short wall and looking at his MirrorPad.

“What’s up, Humphrey,” Dexter called to him, being really good friends with the danger prone boy who was president of their Tech Club.

“I’m looking over these old videos of last year’s Legacy Day so I don’t forget what to do,” the heir of Humpty Dumpty answered. “I don’t want to get up there and then goof up.”

“Yeah, that’s probably a good idea,” Hopper nodded. Both of them were the most socially awkward princes on campus. “The last thing you’d want to do is get tongue tied.”

“No kidding,” Humphrey agreed, angling the device towards the other boys so they could see it as well. “And there’s so much ceremony in it, too. You really have to know what you plan to do.”

The heroes crowded around to watch the display hooked in to the MirrorNet.

They saw the stage of the Legacy Day pavilion, dark in the evening light, with the camera’s focus on a singular person up for their turn. It was a male student with long flowing hair and a sword by his side. The entire stage was empty except for him and Headmaster Grimm, allowing all attention to be on the individual proclaiming his destiny. Once he reached the pedestal where the Storybook of Legends sat, he gave his hair an almost princess-like toss and from somewhere they couldn’t see, a sunbeam struck him despite that it was near night time.

The boy declared his name in a booming voice and reaching out his hand, was given his “magic key” with which he opened the Book to his own tale.

“I wonder what _our_ keys will look like,” Hopper piped up. “Headmaster Grimm said they would reflect who we are, but not really what they were like.”

“I don’t know,” Hunter shrugged. “My dad drew a picture of his key once for me and my baby sister, Fern. I remember it had his ax and a tree on it and some other details from his stories, but I’ve forgotten now.”

“I guess we’ll find out when we get there,” Humphrey said, looking back to the screen. They’d missed the “flash-forward” of the boy’s story but they did see once a magic mirror appeared. That was supposed to show the character what they would look like in the distance future after they completed their legacy. Whatever this person’s destiny was, he seemed quite pleased with what he saw and when the mirror transformed itself into a white feather quill, he plucked it from the air and signed his name with a flourish to the cheers of the crowd and the applause of Headmaster Grimm.

“Gee, isn’t that riveting.” Sparrow faked a yawn at the display, earning him a glare from some of the crown-wearing boys of the bunch. “But if you’ll excuse me, I still have some stuff to do. Check you on the flip side, dudes!~”

Humphrey tottered a little after Sparrow’s piercing farewell cord and while the others held out hands to steady him, he managed to keep his balance and sighed with relief. Then he smiled to the remaining boys. “At least we still have a few hours to get ready for it all.”

“Humphrey, I’ve been meaning to ask you,” Dexter spoke up. “But uh, are you _really_ all that excited to sign the Book? I mean, after what happened with your dad and all…”

Before he could finish the question, Humphrey waved it off carelessly. “I get what you’re saying. The whole ‘big fall’ thing. But don’t sweat it. Dad survived it, so I don’t see why I won’t. And if I get to sign the Storybook of Legends, then I double my chances to do things the way he did and make it through my story. Then get to work on being a king. So why wouldn’t I want to be glad for today?”

“Yeah, that makes sense.” Hopper agreed once more. He was in the same boat as Humphrey. Both were already cursed with perpetual clumsiness and amphibious transformations respectively. But, if they signed the Storybook of Legends, they all but guarantee that they could get past these teenage fumbles and grow up to be protagonists like their parents after which these spells would fade away. It was a win-win situation.

“Well, gotta roll, I guess,” Humphrey declared, swinging his thin legs around to the opposite side of the wall. “Catch you guys at the line up.”

With that, Humphrey pushed himself to hop down but caught his pant leg on the bricks. This led to a crash landing on the other side with sounds of groaning and an odd squeal mingling with the worried gasps of all those who witnessed the fall. “I’m all right,” he called back weakly. “One of the little pigs broke my fall. Ugh…”

Exchanging smiles at the boy’s antics, the remaining four continued on towards the school.

“But really, Hunter, what _do_ you think about all this?” Hopper asked again, bringing back the original question. “You don’t get to live in a castle or marry a princess like the rest of us.” Hunter visibly flinched at this observation. “But that doesn’t mean you dislike your destiny, do you?”

“Well, I don’t think I dislike the destiny itself, really,” he stuttered, gripping the strap of his bag. “I get to save Snow White from the Evil Queen and Red Riding Hood from the Big Bad Hood, though I really hope it’s like Dexter said and no one has to, you know, get hurt. I really want to be a force for good. I do. But even so, the idea of destiny as being the only option, well…”

He hesitated to continue and Daring didn’t like that. It sounded too much like Raven. Too much like a reconsideration if he wanted to sign the Book. They couldn’t afford to have _another_ deserter on their hands.

“Well, once you finish up your destiny, you can do anything you want,” Daring told him. “Save Apple White, save Cerise Hood, then you can live out whatever dreams you want.”

“Anything I want, huh...” Hunter said in a soft voice, his eyes downcast. He seemed saddened by this thought, but Daring mentally corrected his observation since that couldn’t be right. He was probably just trying to figure out what he’ll do once he’s done his part. Unlike the rest of them, Hunter was to be in several fairytales that required a huntsman role. Each were relatively short so he would be able to just jump in and settle things. In one story he was supposed to play a heroic bystander who happened to come by with an ax ready (he’d likely have to check with Cerise about when she was going to play out her story so they could coordinate) and in the other, he was a turned-heal henchman who saved the damsel by _not_ brandishing his ax. It’d be interesting to see how he and Raven worked _that_ out beforehand.

Once they reached the school, Hunter took off towards Book End, saying he had to meet someone. As for Dexter, he was going to the Tech Lab to help Humphrey start configuring the signals from the Legacy platform mirrors that would be used to broadcast the ceremony. It would be their first wide-scale production, setting up a feed right into networks kingdom-wide so that everyone could see the big event. They already had some practice with helping the MirrorCasts of students like Blondie Lockes’ _Just Right_ program, but this was _really_ big.

As if thinking her name had summoned her, Daring found himself suddenly face to face with the girl of legendary golden hair and her ever-present MirrorPad in hand. Occasionally, she would have one of the tech students playing her cameraperson, but they were all busy so she was hosting her show solo today.

“Daring, I’d like to interview you now for my big _Legacy Day_ special,” she declared, getting right into his gorgeous face. When she was in journalist mode, she didn’t even bat an eyelash over his good looks like she would any other time they interacted. “How are _you_ feeling about Legacy Day?”

“Great as always, my dear Blondie,” he replied, flashing a smile that would surely daze whomever viewed the program later. “I’m ready to step up and sign the Book, no problem.”

“As expected, that answer is just right,” Blondie nodded, smiling. Then she asked, “Do you have any concerns about being lumped in with the other _Snow White_ characters rather than acting as a Prince Charming for your family?”

Daring raised his eyebrows in surprise. “Uh, excuse me?”

“I mean, you won’t _really_ be following in the footsteps of your father, Dr. King Charming, who was a graduate of the Class of Classics. You’ll be following the footsteps of _Apple_ ’s father, King White. In fact, my sources have informed me that earlier today, you didn’t receive an heirloom outfit at the same time as your brother, Dexter Charming and instead, were delivered a package by air-dove delivery from White Kingdom. Do you have any comments on these speculation that Snow White has actually been the provider of your heirloom outfit?”

“I...I…” For a moment, Daring was at a loss as to what to say. What _should_ he say to this? The truth, a lie? What was the proper response? Thinking hard, he tried to remember one of the many lessons he’d undertaken in princely mannerisms and finally recalled one very prominent phrase. _Smile. Don’t think, don’t feel. Just smile like everything is perfect_. “I’m happy to pronounce that to be correct,” Daring declared in a loud voice, a grand smile fully on his face. “The illustrious Queen Snow White, personally delivered to me the clothing of a Prince Charming, a perfect fit for my story. And just as I _will_ be the forerunner of the _Snow White_ story character assemblage, I will bear the mantle proudly as one of the first students to declare their destiny to the realm. It is an honor fitting one such as me, of course.”

“Of course,” Blondie agreed, shutting down her mirror now that she’d recorded his speech. “I personally can’t wait to see you and Apple take the stage. I’ll be sitting right beside you, in the front row of the royal side. Because, you know, _I’m_ a royal too, so maybe we can sit right beside each other.”

Daring opened his mouth to agree with this, but was cut off by the arrival of a different princess.

“Royal side?” Briar Beauty asked as she sashayed over to them. “There is no royal side.”

“Yes there is,” Blondie insisted, propping her hands on her hips at someone calling _her_ misinformed. “The student audience will be separated between those of royalty and those of peasantry. And we _royals_ will all sit _together_.”

“Well, it’s not like it’s that great a set up,” Briar pointed out, pushing her crown-glasses up onto her head. “I mean, it not like we have plush thrones set out for us the way our parents did. So what difference would it make to sit on either side if all you get is uncomfortable chairs?”

Blondie huffed, then pulled out her mirror once more, focusing it to herself as she gave her reply. “It’s about status. And when you have it that means you should embrace it. So if you’re lucky enough to be born into a story that gives you a castle or crowns or all the porridge you can eat, well, I think that following through with that is _just right_. Right?”

“Right,” Daring agreed, still in his agreeable smiling mode as he winked into the camera over her shoulder.

Briar playfully rolled her eyes, then smiled herself. “Well, I do agree that royal perks totally rock and I have no problem with following my destiny as long as I can spend my free time having fun.”

“But I thought you were worried about the whole One Hundred Years of Sleep thing?”

Briar visibly flinched at the reminder of her fairytale destiny which her mother, Sleeping Beauty, had been forced to follow through. Cursed to sleep until her prince kissed her awake, much the same as the story of Snow White. “Well, just because it’s not the most...speedy of tales,” Briar coughed, “doesn’t mean I don’t love it. I love the story, and once I wake up, I’ll have everything I had before and a prince included in the deal. Plus, after I’ve gotten all that rest, I can host the most spectacular party in all the realms. It’ll last for days!”

“And you’ll be sure to invite a certain _dark fairy_ to that party. One who you _owe_ for that wonderful story, won’t you?”

The royals all flinched at the sound of that voice and Briar froze like a statue when a thin arm suddenly found its way around her shoulders, silver-painted nails pinching at her skin. Faybelle Thorn smirked wickedly at the surprise on their faces after she’d successfully snuck up on their little group. Blondie was admiring of these skills (which she believed would be great for her journalism career) while Daring was a bit embarrassed that he hadn’t been more aware of his surroundings, too focused on his smile. If he was going to get distracted by himself, he preferred to have a mirror involved.

But Faybelle’s eyes were intensely on the females rather than him and that meant Briar especially. The two of them were a destined pair in the school seeing as it was Faybelle’s mother, the Dark Fairy, that cursed Sleeping Beauty to a century of sleep. And unlike Briar, Faybelle had only anticipation for their big day of destiny to come. She was looking forward to it and wasn’t shy about making other people know it, too. For her, destiny was pride.

She made this view very obvious as she began her own speech for Blondie who gladly recorded it all with her device. Daring took this as an opportunity to escape and not just from the temperamental fairy with dark magic at her fingertips. Blondie Lockes was a good girl but she was an even better journalist and, as Daring had just been reminded, she had an uncanny way of bringing up issues that he hadn’t even considered himself. _Lumped in?_ Was that what everyone was calling it? He would understand if that’s what was said about Hunter or even Raven, but _him_? The _Prince_ of the story?

Was it because he hadn’t been technically born into the role, just chosen for it? He didn’t have the blood of the fair Snow White, the wicked Evil Queen, or the heroic Huntsman. But he did have the blood for _a_ Prince and that had to count for something, right? Destiny always prevailed and as destiny had chosen him for this part then that was all that really matter in the long run.

…

Right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Every student has a reason for going Royal or Rebel. I don't think Humphrey was ever specifically given a category, but I suspect he's a Royal. Then again, he might have changed to the Rebel side after Legacy Day. Who knows? *shrug*
> 
> A/N2: Most of the franchise says Dr. King Charming is in charge of the heroic classes, but other parts says it someone else, like Professor Knight. How would a king have time to work a full-time teaching job?
> 
> A/N3: Fern (or "Fernie") is Hunter's toddler sister from "Hunter's Story". I wish we got a chance to see her...


	5. Childhood Dreams and Unexpected Encounters

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The book-signing ceremony is fast approaching, but a prince must always make time for his fans, especially when they are so curious about his early princeling years. Dinner brings a few revelations to the thoughts of his closest friends, and on his follow-up mission to see Legend, Daring bumps into someone he doesn't quite get along with.

“I just cannot wait,” Claret, a second year princess, cried out in excitement for the fifth time in the last hour. “Can you believe this day is finally here?”

The group of the girls surrounding her squealed in unison, adding in their agreements.

Some might not believe a staircase to be a good place for a meeting, but many students found it an optimal spot to sit around and chat. Unlike the small benches and couches that could be found around the campus, the grand staircase that led from the ground floor to the second in the academic wing was spacious and had multiple levels to sit or recline. Of course, everyone knew to make room for others who wished to pass from one floor to the next.

“I’ve been waiting for this since Nursery Rhyme school,” another of the females, Linda, chimed in. “Remember back when we had to write those poems? I ended mine with a verse about what I thought the book would show about my destiny. Now I get to see if I predicted right.”

“Yeah, I remember that. I even still remember a few of my rhymes.” Then, with a dreamy one, the girls turned to the only male among their group. “What about you, Daring?”

The golden-haired boy looked up from his trusty mirror, which he’d taken out to adjust his hair, and smiled at his fan who sat on the step above him. “I’m sorry, I was distracted. What were you asking, fair lady?”

Another girl, Anabelle, giggled. “We wanted to know if you still remember the poem you made up when you were in Nursery-Rhyme school. You had to do one too, didn’t you?”

“Oh yes, I remember that,” Daring agreed. “In fact, I have a copy of it on my MirrorPad.”

The girls gasped. “Can you…show it to us?” Linda asked, breathless at the thought of hearing it. Poetry from their favorite prince? And back when he was still so young? Nothing would make them happier.

Daring chuckled at their eagerness. Then, pulling out his device, he started scrolling through his files and folders. He kept everything on his personal device very organized since he often had a packed schedule to keep track of and one folder in particular was where he stored copied data from years past. Photos of heroic acts, early versions of his royal crowns and suits. Everything he might need for when someone finally decided to write his biography and needed vital reference material from his life.

After quite a bit of digging, he found it. The school assignment he’d developed, just like every other character during their youth, to represent their individual fairytale stories. It had been a yearlong project and what many considered as their graduation assignment for rising up the fairytale education system from Nursery-Rhyme school into Spellementary.

As he pulled up the old document, Daring scanned over it and realized he’d overlooked a concerning point. He’d written this piece for his class assignment about destiny, yes, but it was _before_ his discovery as Apple White’s destined prince.

“Did you find it,” the girls asked, seeing how he’d paused.

“Can we hear it?”

“Yes, I found it,” Daring answered. Then, after a moment to consider, he said, “Actually, I was wondering if maybe one of you beautiful ladies would do the honor of reading this out loud for us. I’d like to hear how it sounds as a listener as I wrote it so long ago.”

This, predictably, started a tussle between his fan club members over who would get the chance to read his project to the group. Eventually, after an intense game of Dragon-Hero-Damsel, a student by the name of Greeniene happily took the MirrorPad from him, ignoring the jealous looks of her peers that quickly changed to excited curiosity as she began to read.

_A poem by Prince Daring Charming._

_The Destiny of a Prince_

_From when a prince is born_  
_And first opens his eyes_  
_He greats each day with happiness_  
_Each moment a surprise_

_So many types of danger_  
_Are lurking around the land_  
_So it’s up to the charming prince_  
_To lend a needed hand_

_He’ll wave his sword heroically_  
_And monsters swiftly fall_  
_He’ll save all of the damsels “_  
_You’re wonderful,” they’ll call._

_And if a prince should lose his sword_  
_He won’t bow or retreat._  
_He’ll just let out a mighty roar_  
_And they’ll fall at his feet._

The poem continued, running some five pages long in a myriad of verses. Some were better than others and quite a few slant rhymes were thrown in that made the girls coo at how adorably he must have tried. Once the story finally reached its end, they all broke out into sighs about how cute it was and applauded.

“That was great. A perfect example of following destiny.”

“So sweet.”

“Oh, I wish I could have seen what you looked like as a little boy. Probably super cute.”

“That I was, ladies,” Daring replied and momentarily took back the MirrorPad so he could find one subfolder specifically holding old pictures of him during his nursery-rhyme days. He handed this back to them and soon had them all engrossed in flipping through his old life, giggling amongst themselves at each picture and commenting on his cuteness as a prince. When pictures of Dexter or Darling were mixed in, they’d start making comparisons of their features as well, but mostly conversations were about Daring.

He’d completely forgotten that old poem about those childhood dreams. It was in the days when heroics were all he cared about. Grand adventures, excitement, discovery. His greatest dream was to just be as heroic as he possibly could, just like his father and his grandfather. Whether or not he was destined for some specific achievement didn’t matter one bit. Any and all things gallant were open to him.

“Oh. My. Grimm!” one of the groupies called out and squealing giggles started up. Daring looked at them curiously, wondering what they could be looking at to provoke such a reaction. The one holding the mirror flipped it towards him. “I never would have thought you’d be like this!”

Daring looked at the photo and visibly cringed. It was him as a young boy, though at that moment he was more grime than prince. Mud was caked to his regal play clothes from crown to shoelaces, slicking one side of his golden hair flat against his cherub face while weighing down his princely vest so much it was falling off his thin shoulders. The tiny him was a royal mess and yet in the photo, the boy was smiling with great delight, flashing mini-pearl teeth without a care as to the obvious gap at the front, courtesy of the tooth fairy. In his hands, he held what looked like a thick rope leading off the screen.

Daring remembered that time and, seeing the expectant faces of the ladies, pulled himself together with a cough. “Ahh yes. That was one of my first heroic quests. My brother Dexter and I ventured into the woods of Charming Mountain to engage in battle with wild animals.”

The girls nodded, enraptured to hear the tale.

“In the midst of the thicket we ran into a few wild boars and after fierce combat, we arose victorious.” He reached out to swipe the photo and it changed to a wider-framed shot featuring him and his brother along with their respective opponents as they stood in the middle of the Charming Castle foyer. Daring’s rope was revealed to be a leash leading around the neck of a totally massive boar who glared at the camera in disgust. On his other side, Dexter was also shown, just as filthy as his brother with a baby piglet in his own arms. While Daring had spent their encounter wrestling the monstrous animal of razor tusks into submission, Dexter’s challenge had been more about catching the squealing piglet which wriggled amongst the mud wallows. The filth on both princes had come more from Dexter’s battle than Daring’s.

Seeing this new picture, the girls were amazed. Only a Charming could take down a wild animal five times their size and at only the age of six-years-old! As for Dexter, well, they conceded that he tried which was pretty cool, though still not up to the caliber of Daring’s achievement. Daring was tempted to tell them of Darling’s run-in with a pig in the family stable; not as dangerous as a wild animal but still a pretty impressive opponent. However, he thought better of it. Darling might not want these childish antics spread around the school, so it wasn’t his place to say such things without her permission.

The ladies continued their perusal of his past, and Daring was again left with his own thoughts.

 

Those had also been the days before good looks had taken up all portions of his concern. As a small child running around on his family mountain and training to be a hero, coming home all filthy and banged up was a good thing. It meant that he was living up to his father’s expectations and trying to be as heroic as possible. Appearance still mattered to his parents who would immediately rush their children to a bath or the castle seamstress when needed (which was how all his adventures would usually end), but young Daring cared little for those formalities. In fact, as he recalled, he often tried to escape the grooming sessions, not wanting to be cleaned up because once he was clean, that was the end of the day’s adventure and he was _always_ on the lookout for more fun.

The firstborn prince had made life so miserable for the servants in charge of him, the Queen herself would sometimes have to come in and monitor the proceedings to ensure he wouldn’t act up. Safe to say, after a while of having his mother watching him like a hawk, he grew out of that bad habit.

Life had been pretty wild and carefree in those days and, looking back, he could remember the exact time when all the fun had ended: when he’d been declared the prince of Apple White. From that day on, appearance became _everything_. He wasn’t permitted to just go out when he pleased any longer, his parents not wanting him looking grungy in case visitors came. Stricter lesson on manners were given, and while he’d previously been allowed to be as loud and crazy as he wished, he had to sit down more and stay still when grownups were in the room. He could almost have felt the smugness coming from Darling during the whole process. His sister, who for her whole life had had such restrictions placed on her, was almost vindictive to see her brother suffering under these rules. The only one who wasn’t under the same pressure was Dexter but considering that he already had a natural desire to sit around and be quiet, usually because he had his adorable head in a book or a video game, it didn’t much affect his lifestyle.

 

Present-day Daring sighed. He couldn’t say he really regretted all of that now. In fact, he couldn’t even imagine what he would be like today if he’d still been running around and rolling in mud without immediately rushing to a shower and fixing his hair. It was unthinkable. He prided himself on his immaculate appearance just as much as his heroic abilities. Perhaps even more. He wasn’t sad that his carelessness was behind him.

What he missed, really, was the freedom of a life that was his alone to be concerned about, when his choices only reflected on him. But since he gained a destiny and entered into the workings of the fairytale world, he couldn’t just live for himself anymore. He was living for a whole host of storybook characters who would depend on him to do his part in the story and help it follow through. So if he humiliated himself or in any way was presented as less than the Perfect Princely Image, he was in danger of besmirching the immaculate _Snow White_ fairytale. That was a lot of pressure for a child to be suddenly confronted with rather than born and raised under the idea like Apple had.

That was what a Charming Destiny was about, though: acting for the sake of other people, no matter _whose_ destiny you were taking. Every single one was needed to make the world as it was and no matter the dangers or the struggles, it was a job only _their_ family could accomplish.

Eventually someone in the Daring Fan Club’s MirrorPhone started to ring and, seeing the time, the group reluctantly had to say their goodbyes. He understood. After all, it was getting closer to the time for the big ceremony. But first: dinner.

 

* * *

 

It was earlier than dinner was normally served at Ever After High, but it was going to be a very eventful evening, so they had to be sure everyone was full and prepared for the big moment. And Dexter had been right about the food for the day: it _was_ much better!

Daring hummed to himself as swallowed another fork of pasta. It was cooked to perfection, unlike Hagatha’s cooking, and as far as he could tell, not a stray hair or lump to be seen. Just wonderfully textured fettuccini.

“This is delicious!” Briar declared from her side of the unofficial royal students’ lunch table. “Totally page ripping!”

“Fantastic,” Blondie approved, digging into her own meal. “It is definitely just right for everyone!”

Daring agreed with them. Not only was the food well made, but it was _specially_ made at that. Everyone’s dinners were exactly what each loved most to commemorate their destiny-based day. Blondie was dining on porridge with honey, Briar and her cousin Rosabella both had potato-and-rose-petal soup with vegetables shaped into roses. Some of the veggies of Briar’s were also shaped like “Z”’s (probably one of Headmaster Grimm’s jokes) while Rosabella’s were shaped like animals to correlate to her beast-centered destiny.

As for himself, Daring was sharing the same food as Apple, ripe-apple penne which, as he observed, she was diving into with barely contained excitement. Not just because she was eager for the event but because she actually had an uncontrollable weakness for anything apple-flavored. Hunter, who was seated at the far end of their table despite that he wasn’t technically royalty, had the same dish though he was given a side order of woodland steak to symbolize his predestined defeat of the wolf. As anyone could have suspected, it was actually a vegetarian steak meal since the boy was never fond of real meat. Odd for his destiny, but, hey, no one ever said he had to _eat_ the animals he hunted, right?

Daring didn’t know if Raven Queen had received the penne since she was sat on the other side of the cafeteria with a different group of students. At the same table were students like Maddie Hatter and Cedar Wood, who he knew were always excited to live out the stories of their respective fathers. The most unexpected member at their table was Cerise Hood, daughter of Red Riding Hood, who usually kept to herself. She was a nice but quiet girl, often hiding in shadows under her ever-present hood. At the moment, she wasn’t hiding away but was diving into her woodlands steak like she’d never eaten a day in her life. The way she tore it apart with her mouth, not even bothering with any silverware, she looked almost like a…

“Don’t eat too much, though,” Briar reminded everyone at the royal table, grabbing Daring’s attention away from the odd Hood student. “When we get to the big party later tonight, we’ll have plenty of snacks. Plus, you don’t want to be too stuffed to dance.”

As she said this, Briar looked around at the many faces sitting beside her and though she only briefly looked into eyes of Hopper, it was enough to make the boy flush across his freckled face and start stuttering. He promptly turned into a frog. Daring was prepared for the transformation this time and quickly moved to catch the amphibian before he could land in anyone’s food (as was typically what happened when he changed during meals).

“My thanks, kind roommate,” the Frog Prince declared in his regal and booming voice which the other princes in Advanced Wooing were often jealous of. Daring placed him gently on the table so he could reach his plate. Lucky for him, the guest cook had had the forethought to provide a miniature fork as well and he could happily return to his lily-pad salad with raisin flies.

“Of course, Briar. We’ll definitely be ready,” Holly O’Hair spoke up. Rapunzel’s daughter was eating a plate of endless spaghetti with little meatball lions mixed in. “My sister is coming by to help me with my hair and says she’ll give anyone who asks a free hair styling as a Legacy Day gift from our mother and the Tower Beauty Salon.”

“Wonderful,” declared Ashlynn Ella. “I love Poppy’s hairstyling. She’s always so ecofriendly.”

“And none of her products have been tested on animals,” Rosabella piped in. “Though I have to wonder about her dragon-fire hairdryers.”

“Oh,” Daring started at that. “That reminds me. I have to get back to Legend before he wakes up. He still needs to get his own dinner.”

“I wish you didn’t have to keep him asleep all day,” Ashlynn sighed. “Legend is such a wonderful dragon.”

“Yeah, wonderful. Until he starts shooting fire and tries to turn you to brunt porridge,” Blondie spoke up, grumbling. She’d tried to do a documentary piece of Legend last year and learned very quickly that the school beast was not pleased with having a camera stuck in its face during nap time. She’d had to update her MirrorCast equipment to be fire-resistant after that.

“The poor dear didn’t do it on purpose,” Cinderella’s daughter protested. “He was just upset because you woke him up. It was nothing personal.”

“A fried MirrorPad is as personal as it gets.”

“Now, now,” Apple broke into the argument before things could escalate. “Let’s not get all in a tizzy about these things. The past is in the past, so let’s just turn the other slipper, shall we?”

“Slipper? Where!” Ashlynn perked up, her eyes whipping all around to find any indication of these slippers that had been discussed.

“Um, Ash, I think she was speaking metaphorically,” Hunter told her, placing a hand on the girl’s shoulder. Ashlynn immediately quieted down after that, her cheeks rosy. And was Daring imagining the way she seemed to lean into Hunter’s hand there?

“Sorry,” she apologized for her outburst. “I just, really like shoes. Heh.”

“No big thing,” Briar waved, grinning. “It’s just a part of who you are. All about the shoes.”

“Well, not _only_ about shoes,” Ashlynn disagreed politely. “Even if I wasn’t determined for the Cinderella story, working hard and caring about other people would still be really important to me. As for the shoes, well, it’s hereditary.”

“I bet you’re psyched for the big party, then,” Blondie smiled. “You can act out the Ball of Destiny from your story!”

This had been meant as a joke, but Ashlynn’s cheerful expression suddenly became very nervous and sullen. “Yes, I…I suppose it will.”

“Is something wrong?” Rosabella asked, placing a comforting hand on her other shoulder.

“No, no,” the girl said, shaking her head vigorously. “I’m… I’m excited for the party, really. I just, um, I just wish that…Farrah could be here, too. Yes, that’s it.”

“Oh yes. Poor Farrah,” Apple sighed. “It’s so sad that her mother sprained her wing, but to have to miss Legacy Day on top of that? It’s royally disappointing.”

“Yes, she was so looking forward to today, especially the after-ball. But her mother really needs her.”

“I’m sure she’ll be fine,” Hunter spoke up, his voice oddly strained. “I mean, just _postponing_ the Book signing wouldn’t be so bad, right?”

“Perhaps not, but I really would have liked her to be up there with me when I signed,” Ashlynn said, looking over at him sadly. “I would have liked to not do it all alone.”

Hunter swiftly turned his face back to his own food while Ashlynn, still upset, decided she’d eaten enough. She bid them all goodbye then left the Castleteria while cleaning pixies swept by to remove her half-full tray of forest-green salad.

At lightning speed, Hunter finished his own food and, declaring he had to go take care of his pet griffin or something (that was the same thing he’d said earlier, Daring thought) took off out the same door as Ashlynn.

Could he have been…nah.

“Oh, is this seat open?” a voice asked and in a flash of white feathers, a different girl dropped in to fill Ashlynn’s empty chair. It was…huh? For the life of him, Daring couldn’t quite put his finger on this person’s identity. She looked familiar to him; it would be hard to forget someone dressed in a ballerina’s tutu of white feathers and lace, and with hair stripes of black, white, and lavender. She was obviously a unique girl, maybe of a prominent destiny, but he just could not bring up who this beautiful person was.

“Oh, um, hi, Duchess Swan,” Holly greeted her nervously, unconsciously leaning back away from her. “How are you today?”

“Hmm,” the girl huffed, looking towards Rapunzel’s eldest daughter with an expression that bordered on a glare. “Just fine, thank you.”

“And are you excited to sign the Story Book,” Holly pressed on, eyes gleaming in what was likely to be another moment of her “fangirling out” as Briar called it. “I’ve only been here for a few months and I’m royally excited that I get a chance to sign with so many other fairytale characters.”

Duchess sneered again, a look that in Daring’s opinion, a royal princess (as he was assuming her to be based on her glittering apparel) should never wear. It ruined a good lady’s beautiful aesthetics. Only _evil_ ladies could make scowling beautiful. “As a matter of fact, I am,” Duchess replied firmly, before plunging a fork into her meal. Daring couldn’t tell from his distance away, but it seemed to have been made of some kind of pond foliage. “I was born to play the Swan Princess role and I shall live my life as Swan royalty just as well. I’m not the type to run away from my story, after all.”

These words left everyone at a bit of a loss, since no one had questioned her dedication to anything. Yet her glaring eyes turned to the direction of the Castleteria doors, the same way that both Ashlynn and Hunter had gone. Was she implying something?

“Well, I’m glad for you,” Holly said in her usual kind and caring voice. Having known the O’Hair princess since childhood, Daring was quite aware of her excitement with meeting the inheritors of other fairytale destinies. She still had a habit of treating him like a celebrity despite sixteen years of friendship. “After all, since you’re story doesn’t really, um, end happily, I’m glad you can be so proud of it anyways.”

A suffocating feeling descended over the table. The other students tensed as the words left Holly’s mouth. Everyone but she and Daring, who still wasn’t quite familiar with this Swan character, turned to see how the new princess reacted to this innocent statement. The feathers of her headpiece stood up like those of an angry bird and her sneer turned into a deathly glare. Whoever this was, she clearly did not like people talking about her “unhappy ending” as Holly had called it. What _was_ her story?

Luckily, before she could reply with any presumably biting words to Holly, Apple heroically swooped in to change the flow of conversation.

“That reminds me,” the blonde princess spoke up, her beautiful voice slicing through the tension in the air. “Duchess, I must say that the delivery service for your destiny clothes earlier were quite remarkable. I’ve never seen such beautiful swans all flying in a formation quite like that. It was very hexquisite.”

This calmed things down, though only a little bit, and as the girl began to talk on and on about her family and her story of Swan Lake, Daring decided that he _really_ needed to get going or else he wouldn’t make it to the dragon stalls in time.

Only Dexter noticed him leaving, the other were either listening to Duchess speak or had gone back to their food. Except for Briar who’d dozed off at some point and had her head resting on Rosabella’s shoulder.

“I’ll swing by your dorm later to help you prepare, Dex,” Daring told his brother and watched as the boy smiled with some gratitude. It was obvious he’d been nervous about the way his own clothes had been designed and might need a little assistance to get them on. Assistance that his roommate, Hunter, might not quite be capable of.

Giving a parting wave to his friends, then another to the side of the Castleteria where his fangirls were glancing at him in admiration, he straightened his jacket and left.

 

* * *

 

Daring carefully pushed open the wooden door of the dragon stables. “Hey, Legend,” he said softly. Just as he suspected, the great animal was once more awake, though still drowsy from its day-long nap. Seeing those hazy eyes, Daring felt sad for his beastly comrade, having to stay cooped up when he’d rather be out flying as he pleased. Being his own beast.

“I see the stable hands already brought your dinner,” Daring observed, looking over to the trough now filled to the brim with cuts of meat and other dragon favorites. At least Headmaster Grimm was making this worth the creature’s while. Daring noticed a closed bucket sitting beside the trough and suspected it might be the other dose of sleeping potion left by Poppa Bear. Now that he knew it worked, it was fine to let Daring give the animal the food on his own.

As he crossed toward the eating tub, Legend opened his mouth and gave a huge yawn that sounded like the roar of a lion. The sound of it split through Daring’s being, right down to his bones, making him vibrate with the incredible noise. And from within, he felt something a little odd. Like...like an answering call that wanted to be heard. The longer Legend’s roar went on, the greater this feeling rose until it was almost strangling in Daring throat, this strange desire to open his mouth and just…

Legend took a breath then and as the sound died, so did that sudden impulse. Tapping his chest, Daring wondered if it was just indigestion from eating too fast. Whatever after. He had a task to finish up. Popping off the lid of the container, he found three whole roasted birds, each likely infused with more sleeping potion to mingle into the dragon’s hearty dinner.

Too bad the poor animal wasn’t more awake, Daring thought regrettably as he dumped the food into the trough. He would have been over the moon about this spread. Perhaps after Legacy Day, Headmaster Grimm would be in such a good mood, he’d give the monster more treats for good behavior. It was a possibility.

Though Legend was drowsy, his nose still worked fine and it took less coxing from Daring to get the beast to eat. Which was good since Daring wasn’t as sure about taste-testing raw meat as he’d been with a little bit of dried kibble.

This time the dragon didn’t even finish eating before the potion became too much to resist and barely managed to remove his scaly face from the trough before passing out again. The blond prince patted the beast’s snout in a comforting way. Poor creature.

“Poor creature.”

Another voice gave Daring a start as he turned to see who’d come in when he wasn’t paying attention. Standing beside the massive door to the stable, crown and glasses glittering from fading daylight, was the second cousin of the Beauty family.

“Oh, hey, Rosabella,” Daring greeted her, flashing a dazzling smile as he turned away from Legend. “What brings you way out here? I suspect you were looking for me.”

“No, Daring, I can’t say that I was,” she answered. Her tone was strained as if she was implementing great patience as she said this. “I came because I wanted to see what the school system was doing to the animal under its care.”

“Ahh, I see,” Daring said evenly, though he was fighting the desire to roll his eyes. Rosabella was a very _interesting_ girl. She was kind, and usually pretty quiet, but as soon as animals and beasts were involved, she’d be ready to go to war with someone. At a glance, that seemed like a pretty noble endeavor, but as someone who’d had a few unfriendly run-ins with her, Daring found her constant speeches more tedious than anything.

“It just doesn’t seem fair,” she went on, oblivious to Daring’s thoughts. Or perhaps she had an idea of what he was thinking but just didn’t let it affect her. All her attention was on the slumbering dragon. “Forcing this animal to stay locked up in here is bad enough, but force feeding him sleeping potions? That must be some kind of Beast Rights violation.”

“It wasn’t force feeding,” Daring told her. “I warned him ahead of time and he agreed to it. Maybe not happily, but still he knew what he was eating.”

“But why should we have to do such a thing at all? I’m sure if someone just spoke to Legend, he would have been able to just stay in here during the Legacy Day ceremony. He isn’t a mindless creature, after all.”

Daring groaned, not wanting to keep up this conversation. More than anything, though, he didn’t want to admit that he kind of agreed with the activist. He didn’t like asking Legend to stay cooped up in here either, but what could he do? Grimm’s orders had to be followed and only he had a strong enough companionship with the beast to convince him to accept the potion. There was a lot of trust between them. But in this event, he almost felt like he’d violated that trust. It wasn’t a good feeling.

With the mission he’d come for completed, he gave Rosabella his classic finger-point pose then headed out of the stables and back towards the school. Unfortunately, she was following right on his heel and the two walked in an uncomfortable silence. Strange, Daring thought. He usually got along just fine with other girls, especially princesses. And, despite the odd collision here or there over his dragon-slaying activities, he’d never really been enemies with Rosabella. She, like Apple, was always kind and helpful to others, liked to speak her mind, and had a strong idea about justice and doing the right thing. All of those were admirable traits…but did she have to be so pushy about them?

The princess finally broke the silence with an unexpectedly softer voice than she’d used before. “Daring, are you all right?”

“Hmm?” He turned to look at her over his shoulder. “Yes, of course. I’m always splendid. Comes with the territory of Handsome Prince. I’m always in prime condition.”

“Uh, yes, I suppose you are _usually_. But right now you seem a little…down.”

Down? He gave a princely guffaw at that. “What would I have to be down about?” Where had she gotten such a silly idea? He was _smiling_ , so that meant he was _happy_. Why did she think he wasn’t?

The girl squinted at him, as if she was looking for something written across his patterned sweater vest. Then with eyes shining in kindness, Rosabella said, “You know, it’s all right to talk to other people about your problems. That’s what friends are for.”

Now he was really lost. Before they could broach this topic any further, the chiming of the Book End clock tower reminded them that they didn’t have much time left to get ready for the big ceremony. The sun was already beginning to set and once it touched the horizon that would be the time to sign the Book. Both teens took off in a run back towards the school, but when he heard the sound of Rosabella tripping, Daring immediately swung around and caught her before she hit the dirt. “Are you all right?” he asked, clutching her hand as he helped her stay upright.

“Um, yes, I’m perfectly fine,” she agreed, looking a bit flustered and softly tugging on her hand as a message for him to let go. But Daring, intent on not missing Legacy but also not leaving her out in the field like a helpless damsel, began pulling her along at a quicker speed.

“Come on,” he said, towing her behind him. “We have to hurry or else we’ll run out of time.”

She gave a displeased exclamation at being led like a beast on a rope, but didn’t reject his help. There were a lot of bumps and holes in the untended grounds of the old dragon stadium and trying to transverse it in those heeled boots was no picnic. Whenever they would cross over a large hole or steep incline, Daring lent his strength to getting her past it, sometimes swinging her over a ditched like she was a ballerina he was lifting into the air. When she expressed her amazement, he gloated about it all being a part of his heroic responsibilities which just made her frown at him.

In a shorter time than expected, the teens made it back to the school grounds with still two hours to spare before they needed to enter the podium. Rosabella thought this would be plenty of time, but Daring groaned, knowing he still had a lot left to do before he was presentable.

“Thank you for your help, Daring,” Rosabella said, smiling up at him. It wasn’t a smile he was used to getting from girls, not filled with admiration or accompanied by a dreamy sigh, but more like genuine thanks.

Still, that didn’t mean she wasn’t _internally_ swooning over his amazing abilities.

“It was no trouble at all, fair lady. Just a part of me being awesome,” he declared, bowing to her. “Now I bid your farewell.”

And with that, he took off at a speed-saunter to get up to his bedroom before anything else could distract him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N1: Hmm. What would you call it when you take background characters that all seem to be from the Daring Fan Club and just give them names? Does that still qualify them to be "Original Characters"? I doubt so.  
> I'm bad at poetry, so it wasn't hard to write one at a five-year-old level.
> 
> A/N2: The photo and the story about Daring and Dexter (and Darling) wrestling animals was inspired by "A Semi-Charming Kind of Life". Darling states she and Dexter were five at the time, so Daring was probably six.
> 
> A/N3: The School Story book "Next Top Villain" says that Daring can never recognize Duchess from one moment to the next. This is never confirmed or denied by the webisodes, but it does give an interesting perspective to her character. 
> 
> A/N4: "Truth or Hair" says that Holly has known Daring for all of her life. I admire her fangirl spirit.
> 
> A/N5: Judging from Rosabella Beauty's Diary, she and Daring have likely clashed before concerning her volleying for better treatment of beasts and Daring's upbringing as a hero. Whatever the reason, they definitely seem to know one another well.


	6. Preparing for Destiny

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Daring faces his Heirloom Outfit and all it entails as he prepares for the ceremony. Dexter and Darling are also on his checklist list and as he assists them, he becomes rather introspective on what being a sibling truly means.

By some miracle, Daring had managed to shower and dry his hair in record time (for him, anyway). Hopper wasn’t in their room, but the boy’s clothes were gone so he likely had already dressed and gone to wait with others who preferred to arrive early and thus prevent holdups. Daring was left alone, himself and his Legacy Day outfit.

The metal-gray slacks at first clashed with his sky blue shirt until he buttoned up the double-breasted vest, black with red around the lining, and donned his dark blue tie to tuck inside of it. Next came the royal blue jacket, impeccably designed with red lapels that matched the ones on his vest, and a collar of fine white faux fur, possibly in the image of fox hairs. Once that was in place, he slipped the sash diagonally over his chest just as he’d watched his father do when dressing in his kingly wardrobe. Pride filled him as he donned this uniform. It might have belonged to a different family, but it was still in the Charming style and that alone made him happy to wear it.

Reaching into the gift box, he pulled out the next item of clothing which was a long, regal cape that hooked right underneath the tasseled epaulettes on his shoulders which he noticed had been engraved with the Charming Family “C”. As he looked it over, he spied the article’s tag and recognized the White Towers logo. Clearly, this was from Snow White’s Enchanted Cape collection, a side business in fashion she was using to augment Apple’s trust fund, and she wanted Daring to model it in front of his peers. A bit self-serving on the part of the queen, but still, it _was_ a wicked awesome cap. He watched how it flapped heroically while he pulled it up his back, hooking it onto his shoulders and admiring how it matched the gold and red of the rest of his outfit.

Daring set aside the beautiful crown since he hadn’t finished with his hair yet. The black and gold boots slid on his feet perfectly and for a moment he entertained himself with an idea of being like Cinderella. The shoe that fits proclaims destiny. It was similar to this moment.

Now came the accessories.

Daring reached into the box to pull out other decorative items like a breast pin for his coat that looked like a mirror and some golden cufflink with matching insignias of the Charming family crest. But as he was moving to close the box, believing he’d found everything, he saw something lying flat against the bottom and wedged into the crease of the gift box. He reached back inside, digging almost up to his elbow, and was taken aback by what he extracted from the magical depths. A sword. The scabbard was black, beautifully engraved with golden images of ferns and forest leaves, and a bird with outstretched wings. He carefully extracted the weapon and admired its sleek blade, the engraving on the metal matching the forest-theme of the shield. On the handle there was a ruby carved into the shape of an apple.

 _That’s right_ , Daring realized as he saw the bright red jewel designed like the iconic fruit of his story. It would be with this blade that he plunged through the Dark Forest and saved the distressed Apple White. Even if he didn’t actually _use_ the weapon during that trip, it was a symbol of his quest, so he would wear it proudly today as a precursor of that far off journey.

The prince swiftly hooked the sheathed sword to his waist with the provided belt then put on the pin, cufflinks, and jeweled adornment for his dark tie. Back at his mirror, he ran a comb through his hair, sweeping it from its casual draping around his forehead and into a smooth wave parted asymmetrically to both sides of his face. If he’d had more time left, he might have went looking for Poppy O’Hair who was helping some of the girls prepare in her sister’s tower dorm room, but he knew there would be no chance to slip in a swift touchup amongst the others. He couldn’t afford to arrive late to the ceremony. He was at the front of the line, after all.

After adding just a little touch of hairspray to hold it all in place (and by “touch” that would mean two and a half cans of it), he carefully placed the grand crown atop his head. It was much heavier than his usual crown was, but he liked this weight. It felt right for him.

“Well, I’m ready,” Daring said to himself, giving himself a last onceover in the mirror. The clothes suited him, no two ways about that. He looked like a Charming Prince and that was really all that counted. So after giving himself a confident smile and playfully telling his reflection he’d “see him later”, he strolled out of the dorm room and down the hall.

It didn’t take him long to reach the dorm he was looking for. They lived on the same floor of the boys’ dormitory and luckily, there wasn’t quite the same separation between those of royal descent and those of commoner positions for the male students as there was for the females. That would have really confused some of the roommate assignments.

He swiftly knocked on his brother’s door just as he would if they were back in their own castle. Though they were very close, he and Dexter maintained a courtesy of privacy that included forewarning of entry. Well, unless it was for games or something (usually instigated by Daring) in which case it was fine to just burst in for a surprise tackle.

Sadly, now was not the time for such fun, so he patiently waited to be given permission by one of the occupants.

The door was pulled open and as he had suspected, Dexter had a frazzled look about him. And it was no wonder, Daring thought as he looked him over. They were down to about a half hour before the ceremony started and so far, the technologically-adapt prince had only succeeded in donning grey pants and a lilac dress shirt. A blue tie hung limply around his neck and his hair was as big a ruffled mop as ever. Even his glasses were off kilter. When Dexterous saw it was his brother at the door, he let out a huff of air. Daring chose to interpret it as a huff of relief.

“Goodness, little brother,” Daring said as he entered, closing the door behind him. “I would have expected you to at least have moved onto your hair at this point. That will take extra time to fix, you know.”

“Well, I would have,” Dexter proclaimed as he went over to his bed, struggling to sort out the many pieces of clothing in front of him. “Except that Humphrey and I ran into serious issues with the MirrorNet connection, mirror daemons on the prowl among other mishaps, and I only just got here five minutes go. On top of that, I can’t figure out how to attach all these chains and links on this coat or which direction it should button on. I even dropped something from the box down behind my bed.” Dexter finished his rant by trying to reach under the bottom of his four-poster bed, but his shoulders were too large to fit under and retrieve the lost trinket.

While his back was turned, Daring couldn’t help but grin broadly at his fumbling little brother. He really shouldn’t be laughing at his expense but he couldn’t help it! Dexter was always at his most adorable and lovable state when he was goofing around. As much as Daring wanted to help his fellow hero-in-the-making succeed, a deeper part of him loved watching him get flustered. He looked like the small boy he’d been since they were children and in these moments, Daring really felt like he was needed as a guide and role model, like a real “big brother” with more than just nine months of seniority on his siblings. If there was anything he liked possibly more than being a prince or a hero, it was being a role model.

“Little brother, you are such a worrier,” Daring teased, walking over and gripping Dexter by his forearm. The younger student let himself be pulled up from the carpet and at Daring’s insistence, turned to face the fully-dressed boy. “You’re trying to think too far ahead. Let’s just start from the beginning and solve the rest when we get there. First things first, you needed the preliminaries. Shirt, pants, and shoes.”

“Oh, my shoes!” Dexter gasped and whipped around to dive into his box. Daring bit back the lecture he would have given him about these sudden motion ruining his hair. After all, his tresses was naturally scruffy, so what difference would that make?

It was only with a little struggling that Dexter slipped into his grey and black boots, buckling it up with shaking hands and needing to redo at least two straps when he put them in the wrong slots.

As he went about this, Daring perused the cluster of fabrics that Dexter had spread across his blue and white checkered bedspread. There was the metal gray jacket he had been worried over and a tangled mess of chain links and cords that needed to be sorted out. There was also a plaid sweater vest like the ones Daring usually wore, a cape, and a gorgeous crown they would deal with later.

It didn’t take Daring long to sort out what had to be done and once Dexter finished with his boots, Daring handed him the sweater vest and went to work picking apart the tangled chains in time with the other boy fixing his necktie.

In less time than they would have guessed, their collaborative efforts succeeded in getting the outfit sorted out. Dexter shrugged into the heavy coat and slipped the brass buttons through their holes while Daring attached the chains and buckled straps on his wrists and back that he wouldn’t be able to reach on his own. Cherished might be a wonderful fashion designer but perhaps she didn’t take into account a person getting dressed on their own. Daring wondered what kind of setup she had previously planned for his Legacy suit if Dexter’s was such a complex maze. He was quietly thankful he received King White’s old-fashioned and simply-designed apparel instead.

Finally they were faced with only two problems: Dexter’s unruly hair and whatever it was he’d dropped under the bed. It didn’t take a moment for them to agree that his hair was the harder job so they had best deal with the trinket first.

Getting on his knees, Daring peered under Dexter’s bed and frowned at the amount of clutter crammed in the tight space. True enough most boys their age weren’t typically immaculate, but Daring liked to keep his personal space in a relatively straightened order. Everything had a place to go so you never had to actively “clean”, and seeing such a mess made by his brother didn’t sit well with him. He would have to provide a lecture about that at a later time, though. It was dark under the bedframe and unable to see two inches deep, Daring realized he would have to have a light source to find the mystery item. It was time to use his “magic touch”.

Running his tongue swiftly across his teeth, being sure there wasn’t a speck of dinner that might disrupt the effect, he clenched his jaws and gave a wide smile. At that moment, though his position should have made it impossible to catch a fragment of light from the dorm chandelier, the space was alight by his twinkling teeth and he could finally see what he was messing with. Amidst the comic books and discarded socks something was twinkling like a star, but when Daring tried to reach for it, he had the same problem as Dexter in that his arm was too muscular to fit.

Dexter was standing behind him, saying how he wished he hadn’t dropped Mr. Cottonhorn off in Beast Care with the other dorm-resident pets or they could have used the jackalope’s meager size to get the item out. Daring’s own pet, P-Hawk, had gone with the more wild pets into the woods for the night. But Daring had his own solution for this problem. He swiftly unhooked his sword from its belt and with a single swipe of the scabbard, knocked a good deal of the mess out of the darkness and into the center of the dormitory floor. After apologizing to his brother for the mess which he assured that he could clean up later, Daring scanned through the pile and plucked what had glittered right from the thick of it. It was a ring, grey in color like the rest of Dexter’s style, but with a single blue gemstone in the center that was shaped as a crescent moon. Daring didn’t get a ring with his outfit but then, he _did_ have nice cufflinks so perhaps it was a fair tradeoff.

“There you are.” Daring dropped the jewelry into Dexter’s waiting palm and with it safely slipped onto his right hand, they got down to the last and hardest task: straightening out that tousled mop of chestnut hair.

Daring, luckily, had been prepared for this fight and from his coat pocket removed a can of his personal hairspray, just _one_ can since Dexter’s hair wasn’t quite the same as his own.

He would never admit it out loud, but Daring had always been a little jealous of his brother’s hair. Between the three Charming children, each had received a different mix of genes from their parents, some traits being favored more than others and this was most prevalent by examining their hair.

Darling had the best outcome. Her white-blond locks were silky, never tangled, and always fell right into place no matter how windy it might be that day. Dexter ranked second because though he always had an incredible cowlick that refused to sit down without incessant pressuring, his chestnut locks were just as silky as Darling’s, a trait they’d inherited from their beautiful mother to never be gnarled or pulled.

Then there was Daring’s hair. His golden tresses were gorgeous, no doubt about that, but when it came to managing them…well, that was one trait he wished he hadn’t taken up from his father. Neither Charming males could get their hair to sit exactly as they wanted it to for long periods of time; the slightest motion and it would be out of place or skewed. And when it came to brushing, ugh!

But back to the point on hand. Though Daring envied his brother’s silky hair, he did wish it had a bit more of Queen Charming’s characteristics as, brush and hairspray in hand, he valiantly fought to press the wavy follicles into submissions. He didn’t have Poppy O’Hair’s skills as a beautician; she had dedicated her life to the task since she realized that as the second daughter to Rapunzel, she didn’t have a “destiny” to follow and instead chose a passion to pursue. But, even without the natural talents of the O’Hair princess, the Charming boys managed to wrestle Dexter’s hair into a simple slick back that with a touch of hairspray, would hold long enough to make it through the celebration and hopefully the after party.

At last, Daring placed the crown of gold and sapphire onto the boy’s head, checked that his cape was clipped to his shoulders securely and that his buttons were on straight.

He looked…

“Spectacular,” Daring declared, a little softer than he usually would. Looking at his little brother like this, decked out in the most elaborate and sophisticated clothing he could ever remember him wearing, Daring felt a surge of pride and wished their parents were here to see the boy in real time, not just waiting at their own castle to watch him over the MirrorNet broadcast.

Dexter gave a shy smile at the compliment and as he looked at himself in the mirror, Daring could see how his posture straightened, chest puffing up. He was getting ready for what would be one of the biggest moments of his life, prepared to face it like a true hero. Daring was so proud and happy for him.

Such an important day for his brother should have been shared with the whole fairytale world.

 

Darling Charming’s room was not quite that easy to reach as Dexter’s was.

For one thing, in order to keep the Charming princess safe from the advances of love-struck admirers that could take one glance at her and decided they wanted her hand in marriage, Headmaster Grimm had agreed to place her, by their parents’ specifications, in one of the highest, most limited-access dorms in the school, second only to the tower bedroom of Holly O’Hair. On the third floor of the female dorm and locked in by a corner, Darling’s room was huge and well protected against outside disturbers of her privacy. Only the most talented and dedicated of heroes would attempt to climb the vines that span the southern wall that might lead to her window and if anyone tried, well, they wouldn’t get close enough before the spell traps surrounding the space would alert them if anyone besides Darling or her roommate crossed through with harmful intentions.

Still, that didn’t stop Dexter, who was a special exception to the spells as a family member, from journeying to Darling’s wing and sleeping outside of her door for protection. No measure was too extreme for the safety of their beloved sister.

As Daring had suspected, the lower floors of the female dormitory were barren. They were down to ten minutes before their line up time and those who hadn’t gone straight to the Grimmnasium had likely went to get a quick styling from the O’Hair dorm. Thus, the walk to his sister’s room was less of a zoo than Daring usually dealt with and it was only after he knocked on his sister’s door that he saw anyone’s face at all. One of an assistant fairy.

Just as his father had promised, a small team of fairies had been dispatched to aid his sister in her preparations for Legacy Day. Smaller than daisies, they flittering to clean-up from their final project, replacing hairbrushes and perfume bottles, putting away scissors and rolls of satin ribbons that had been used to decorate Princess Darling to as sparkling an image as possible. After all, they had been hired by _the_ Charmings to work magic for their only daughter, the true gem of their crowns, and knew that substandard was not an option.

It wasn’t out of character for Daring’s parents to send diminutive fairies of their employment to perform tasks for their children such as laundry and room cleaning; tasks that everyone in their boarding school was expected to take care of themselves unless they had the money to hire assistance. He’d have to remember to ask his father about getting a few extra for Dexter after seeing his living conditions, but that was a thought for another time. All that mattered now was his beautiful little sister.

If Daring had been anyone other than her brother or family member, he might have keeled over just gazing upon the dazzling vision of Princess Darling Charming in all her finery.

“Hello, Brother,” Daring greeted him in a formal tone which he supposed she was using out of habit due to how ornately she dressed. Using relaxed talk even in addressing family would get her scolded by their mother if they were in a formal situation that required elaborate dress such as this. He could relate to that, what with his habit of pushing Queen Charming’s patience more directly than his siblings did, even if he got away with it more. The history he had of her scoldings was greater than either of them suspected.

Instead, he bowed to Darling in a regal manner. “Greetings, your most beautiful majesty,” he declared, though she knew as well as he did that it was just to playfully tease her. “I have been sent by royal command to escort you to the procession of the Legacy Day ceremony.” Even with his head bowed, he could guess the aggravated look she was making at this and already detected the mounting whine before it could leave her throat. “I humbly request that you not put up the usual fight and simply allow me to do the job entrusted in me for your benefit.”

There was a huff of air, but in a smooth and polite voice with only a little tension, she answered, “I suppose there is no real choice. So if that is what is ordered, then we must.”

He straightened up and beamed at her, glad that she was taking this as seriously as he’d hoped. He knew she didn’t much like the idea of her destiny and if he was in her place, he didn’t think he’d feel much different. Many of their cousins and aunts enjoyed being damsels, liked the thrill of placing themselves in all kinds of danger then laying back to relax while someone else had the task of getting them out of it. It was a family tradition and great sport to the females of their family.

But Darling was different. She had been different since they were small and even though she tried to hide it from him just as much as their parents, he wasn’t oblivious to what his sister was capable of. He might not know quite _how_ she managed it, but he’d noticed a difference in the structure of her body, her gait that only would connect to that of someone who regularly exercised instead of sitting in their room scrapbooking like she always claimed she was.

He noticed when she was limping from some injury, when she was hiding calloused hands behind satin gloves or when she was sneaking ointments for flesh wounds. No damsel would need rolls of bandage from getting papercuts. He never revealed her secret, though. Because in a way, she was the same as him: trying to satisfy some craving for life that destiny was eventually going to take away from them. For him, it was basking in admiration from the ladies who loved him. For her, it was probably freedom from suffocating rules. Whatever she was getting up to, it made her happier than she had been in their castle. Untraditional behavior or not, so long as his sister could keep hold of this slice of happiness, Daring was satisfied and would keep what he knew to himself.

He walked further into the dorm and knelt down by the vanity chair where she sat. The fairies around her head, now finished with their work, all gave bows to Daring before vanishing in sparkling puffs of air.

Daring extended a hand to the princess who took it and rose to her feet, not tottering even slightly on her impressive heeled shoes and when he guided her down the steps of the raised floor, she didn’t catch a hem or stumble. She was the image of grace and posture and Daring was so proud of her. Not for just how she was acting but the fact that she was _trying_ , despite how much she didn’t like it. He loved how dedicated his little sister was.

Together, the siblings made their way down the halls and stairs of the school without talking much. While they loved one another immensely, they didn’t always see eye to eye on things. Both got along much better with Dexter than with one another, despite how similar they were in their sheer perfection; even their names were eerily similar. There was an unspoken barrier between them, things they kept to themselves or only felt comfortable sharing with their absent brother, not each other. That was just the way things had turned out as they grew up.

Daring remembered a few times from their days as young children when they could spend all their time together, the three of them. Even with the different expectations placed on them all, when they came together, none of those things mattered. Especially not gender differences. Daring would wrestle with his sister in the mud just a rough as he did Dexter; he didn’t understand how she should be treated with more care. She certainly hadn’t _acted_ like she needed special treatment with the way she could tackle him from behind and send him face first into the mud, declaring herself the “hero” of the game. Such attacks would just make him fight her harder and since they were about the same size in those years, often confused as triplets instead of an elder brother and younger twins, they were pretty evenly matched.

Funny how a few years and a little social training could split up such a tight-knit trio.

As they entered into the main halls of the school, the two had to be careful not to bump into the other students who were also dressed up to the nines for this occasion. Princesses, villains, little pigs, and generally all kinds of storybook characters; everyone looked their best. They weren’t as late arriving as he’d been afraid they were since there was still a handful of princesses missing from the second year group that had gathered as per Headmaster Grimm’s instructions. If there was time left before the fashionably-late benchmark, they were making good time.

In the Grimmnasium, the Charmings were greeted by the towering figure of their crownculous teacher, the White Queen. Or, as she demanded to be addressed, Mrs. Her Majesty the White Queen. She looked over them in her long eggshell gown and sparkling platinum crown, and Daring was starkly reminded of his mother. Their personalities weren’t muck alike, but they were women of similar fashion tastes with glittering blond hair, except the White Queen’s tresses were closer to silver than Queen Charming’s golden locks.

Darling separated from Daring then, as she wanted to have a quick word with Dexter before line up. Once it was time to move, she would have to be on guard against the majority of the male population who might become “overzealous” when she sat in the crowd. Even now several heads were locked on to her position but none dared to make a move so long as her brothers were close at hand. They had all been witness to how quickly the Charming males could dispatch those who pursued their sibling.

“Gather up, everyone,” the White Queen declared. “We must prepare for the beginning of the ceremony.”

Not many seemed to hear her, all the excited chatter of the room drowning out even _her_ commanding vocals.

Another person, however, had the volume and reputation to get attention, and not in a kind way.

“Silence!” the booming voice of Lizzie Hearts declared while she and the other missing royals made their way in. Sure enough, everyone was immediately quiet. The Wonderlandian Princess of Hearts was elegantly dressed just like everyone else, wearing so many heart-shaped decorations, one might have confused her with C.A. Cupid, though her clothes were in a crimson red while the real daughter of Cupid, who ironically went by the same name as her adopted father, was decorated in varying shades of pink.

“Thank you, Miss Hearts,” The White Queen said. She was of the same level of nobility as Lizzie’s mother, the Queen of Hearts, and the Red Queen as royals of Wonderland.

“Off with their heads,” was Lizzie’s reply and only a few people flinched at the declaration. The rest had long gotten used to her saying such things, an iconic line from her mother’s story, and knew no one would actually be decapitated on Lizzie’s orders.

Not yet, anyway.

“Now that we all are at attention, we’ll prepare for what you’ll be doing today,” the White Queen said. “Second Year students have the reserved number of seats in the front rows of the audience and once you file out the door, you may fill them up in whatever ways you may wish.”

This caused a rumble around the crowd. They’d thought it was assigned seating based on how Headmaster Grimm had them practicing up until this day.

“You should all remember from the Legacy Day practices what order you will speak in, but if you do not, then that’s all right. The programs are properly labeled for what stories will go when, so as long as you remember who you go after and are on the steps by the time they finish their turn, all will be fine.

“And one more important announcement. Princess Darling Charming is to be given a wide distance from all students with at least one seat isolating her on all sides from everyone else. Imagine her as a singular island in the sea of students. Rest assured that if anyone so much as _speaks_ to her out of turn, they will receive Dungeon Detention until Thronecoming!”

This declaration immediately sent once eager young men shuffling in every way _but_ towards the princess who was now blushing with humiliation at being called out in such a way. Daring felt bad for her, but that didn’t mean he didn’t approve this decision. His sister could attract some pretty rowdy admirers and no one wanted to ruin Legacy Day by halting midway through the signings to escort anyone out.

A sound of cawing birds echoed through the Grimmnasium and the students watched the White Queen pull her MirrorPhone out. Checking the screen for her recent hext message, she straightened up even straighter then she already was and proceed to walk down from the stage. “It is time now,” the professor declared and as she glided towards the front door, the rest of the room followed her like ducklings.

Destiny had truly begun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N1: Very descriptive with outfits here, but they're so cool, how could I resist? Daring's sword is added in because "The Storybook of Legends" mentions him having one during Legacy Day and considering he has a collection of them on his wall, I think he'd appreciate it. (Plus it might make for a good plot point in a later story. *Shrug*) Snow White’s Enchanted Cape collection comes from "Dragon Games". She is a businesswoman, after all.
> 
> A/N2: I'm really growing attached to the Doting-Brother Daring idea. His character is a lot of fun to write this way.
> 
> A/N3: Daring seems to already know about Darling's heroics, or at least be pretty open-minded to it. "A Semi-Charming Kind of Life" (book) and "Save Me, Darling" (webisode) make it seem like he's oblivious, but there are a lot of hints that he might know what's going on. In "Dexter Charming's Story" he's amused by her unladylike behavior and at the end of "Way to Wonderland" he smiles about her reveal as the White Knight, more happily surprised than totally blindsided. It also explains why he never inquired about being praised for saving her damsels class from a dragon when he knows he didn't (not the type to take credit for things he didn't do). This might just be my overanalyzing, but it works.


	7. How Destiny Starts and Crumbles

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ceremony time. With signing the Storybook of Legends, Daring confronts a few uncomfortable realizations of the future. But no matter what the Book may show him, a Prince Charming will never back down.

The Second Year Class paused before the grand double doors that led out to the Legacy Day pavilion, closed now that the ceremony had started. They could hear the booming of Headmaster Grimm’s opening speech to the rest of the school faculty and other grades, the only people allowed to attend the ceremony. Unlike in previous years, outsiders were no longer invited as this was declared a security risk. And since the crowd was now smaller, they had been able to make the pavilion itself more spacious and fancy, turning the platform into an open book binding with long stairs on either side to smooth out transitions between declarations. It was almost a shame that the stand was only used twice a year for Legacy Day and later, Graduation.

“And now, I would like to present the honorary characters of the night,” Grimm declared to the crowd. This was their cue and the second years swiftly sorted out into two lines, organizing themselves by which side they wanted to sit on and with whom.

“This year’s Legacy Class.”

The doors were magically swept open and the White Queen strolled down the middle of the walk, halting where it split into two sides and gesturing with her hands for the lines to continue down the paths they had chosen. On the right-hand walk, head held high, Apple White was the leader of her royal parade, behind her was a majority of princes and princesses. From his spot trailing farther back in their line, though being certain to appropriately greet the applause as a prince, Daring took in his surroundings.

The evening was mostly clear, though a few unexpected clouds were making their way towards the campus, blocking out the arrangement of stars. Too bad, Daring thought to himself. You could have seen the Tree of Life on a night this clear. The setting of the distant sun left streaks of red and pink on the horizon and its glow lit up the stage like a spotlight, reflecting off the huge mirror screens that hovered in the air and directed the luminance towards their headmaster.

Rows of chairs were placed on either side of the median which separated the pavilion into two sections, the “royal” and “non-royal” arrangements that Briar and Blondie had argued over earlier. Down the center was a stream of water with lily pads floating on the surface. While the students walked down the rows towards the front seats, a band of diminutive fairies were playing soft, lilting tunes for this regal event. Once arrived to the front of the audience, Headmaster Grimm looked down to them and gestured with his hands that they spread across the rows and claim their seats.

On the “royal side” of the train, Apple lightly moved down the seats at the very front, taking the last one offered and waving Raven down to stand beside her. She’d insisted that the girl stay by her side to support each other. Then was Rosabella Beauty, one of the few royals that didn’t flinch away from Raven and after her, was her cousin Briar and then Daring. On his other side lined up Blondie, Ashlynn, Hopper and Dexter before the row broke off to fill in the seats behind them. Daring couldn’t see the left-hand side of the front row which had been led forwards by Melody Piper followed by non-royal students like Ginger Breadhouse, Nina Thumbell and Sparrow. Hunter had walked opposite of Daring in the duel lines and while the prince had been more concentrated on smiling and waving to the crowd (and not stepping on the hem of Briar’s ruffled dress), he had noticed the deeply disturbed look on his friend’s face. Was he really that nervous about getting on the stage? Hunter wasn’t a monarch, preferring to hang out in the woods with animals rather than at the center of attention, but the boy looked as if the whole world was ending.

Standing before their seats, the students waited for the praise of the audience to quiet down before taking Grimm’s beckoning to sit. A program for the event magically appeared in front of Daring’s eyes and upon opening it, he took a glance over the proceedings. Right now, Grimm was making his secondary introduction speech (why he _needed_ two speeches was left unclear) and right afterwards would be the calling of characters to make their pledges. _Pinocchio_ was the first story for line up and as Cedar Wood was the only character from her story who went to Ever After High, she would be going up on her own. After her would be the players of _Cinderella_ when Ashlynn Ella, not having Farrah Goodfairy to go with her, would take the stage to proclaim her destiny. It would be after these two stories that the characters of _Snow White_ would go, with Daring Charming as their forerunner. He would be the third person this year to sign the Book.

As Headmaster Grimm continued with his speech, students in the front conversed quietly. It wasn’t wise to risk such “disrespectful chatter” but Headmaster Grimm was so engross in his dialogue he wasn’t paying _them_ attention as much as the crowd in whole, particularly the First Years who were more towards the middle sections.

“Totally excited,” Briar was whispering to her cousin, the ruffles around her neck all but vibrating as she was forced to sit and wait in her chair, something she never liked with as much energy as she had (while awake, that is). “The after-party I’ve organized is going to be just as legendary as this day!”

“You have to get through the ceremony _first_ , Briar,” Rosabella reminded her, always the more reasonable of the Beauty girls. Daring took a moment to glance over at them. Really, it was uncanny how closely resembled they were to one another. The only real difference in their appearance was that Rosabella wore glasses and they preferred different colors in their makeup and hair. Briar liked decorations in dark pink shades while Rosabella leaned more to deeper reds.

Despite this, for her Legacy Day outfit, Rosabella was wearing a golden yellow dress as bright as sunshine that split from the center down to reveal a white underdress. Around her shoulders was a furry draped shawl (fake, he was sure) while a gold butterfly-shaped tiara pinned her elegantly curled up-do into place. It was the first time he’d ever seen her wearing an actual crown.

Her eyes, framed by gold glasses instead of her usual brown, suddenly glanced over to Daring and her look went from contented to concern. It seemed like she was constantly doing that when she looked at him today and it was starting to be just a little bit annoying.

They all jerked up when the Headmaster gave a pointed cough and disapproving look towards their class, having finally noticed the inattentive students. The princesses immediately straightened in their seats and Rosabella turned away, probably to give Grimm her full focus.

Now that she wasn’t looking at him anymore, Daring relaxed and turned his thoughts to things more interesting than Rosabella’s problems: himself.

He would have to take the stage right after Ashlynn signed the Book, and then say his speech. He supposed he should say something like “I pledge to be the prince that saves Snow White” but that just didn’t _feel_ right to him. As a Charming, he was to declare a loyalty to all things bravery like his brother would, not to just one story. Nonetheless, this was how things panned out for him. Here he was, wearing _Snow White_ clothes, soon taking the stage with the other _Snow White_ Characters, so why not pledge himself as Snow White’s prince? It was his destiny; his duty. He would follow through with it.

And once it was all complete, he would meet up with the girls of his fan club as he’d promised and they’d take group photos, and compliment his performance…But first he needed a photo of himself with Apple, then with Raven and Hunter, as well. In fact, if he knew Blondie and her passion for documenting, he might not get a minute to see his loyal fans before they had to board the carriages and the boats to Briar’s party.

Oh well. The families wanted proper photos, so what could he say?

There was a nudging at his side and Daring turned towards Briar who was holding something out to him. It was a program for their ceremony folded in half. He showed her his own program still in hand but she frowned and kept pushing it towards him until he finally took it from her. Opening it up, he saw there was a message written across the inside.

_Your emotions are as jumbled together as spaghetti. But I can tell you aren’t very happy. Are you all right?_

Shocked by this, he turned sharp eyes towards Briar Beauty but she jutted a pink-nailed thumb over her shoulder. And sure enough, Rosabella was looking at him again, concern written over her heart-shaped face.

What _was it_ with _her_ and being caught up in _his_ feelings?! Daring was _fine_. **_Fine!_** And what’s that about being unhappy? Of _course_ he was happy. He would _know_ if he wasn’t happy.

He was just thinking of what reply he might send back, glad that he always kept a quill on hand for autographs (did she keep one for the same reason?), but Headmaster Grimm’s speech was winding down and that meant things were about to start happening. Daring placed both programs into the extended pocket of his jacket, not needing them since he already knew when he was supposed to make his way to the stand.

“Without further ado, let the Ceremony of Legacy commence.” Cheers rang out across the pavilion as the Headmaster beckoned to Professor Pied Piper who grandly strolled over to him, carrying the Storybook of Legends in his hands and depositing it to one side of the podium. As he walked off the stage, he snuck in a quick wave to his daughter, Melody Piper, before going to join the rest of the faculty in the back of the audience.

The Headmaster cleared his throat, then began the real part of the performance. “The first story we shall see tonight is from the tale of _Pinocchio_ , a story of a young puppet that learns a hard lesson of life and responsibility before achieving their wish to be a real child.”

While Headmaster Grimm gave the synopsis of her book, Cedar Wood rose from her seat and crossed over past the other students so she could climb the stage from the right-hand side. As she went by the royal rows, there was a definite spring in her step that spoke of how excited she was by the thought of living her destiny. It was no secret that the puppet student desperately wanted to be a real girl. And, even if it _was_ a secret, she would have blabbed it by now. Because on top of being made of magic wood, she had an added curse to only tell the truth in contrast to her father, Pinocchio, who had spent of his puppet days telling lies. With this extra trouble and an inability to not say exactly what was on her mind, Cedar would reveal just about anything and one of her most spoken of topics was how badly she wanted to have her humanity once the tale was finished. Of course, during those adventures, she would have to face con-artists and donkey transformations. She wasn’t as enthusiastic about those parts, not that anyone would hold that against her.

“I introduce to you the protagonist of the tale, Cedar Wood.”

Encouraging acclaim rose from those assembled as the puppet girl took the stage. The headmaster clapped for her as well while he moved away from the stand to remain in the background and allow Cedar the full attention of the crowd. Around her, four jumbo Mirrors projected her face to the audience and they could see the honest reflection of excitement and nervousness in her wooden features.

“I am Cedar Wood, daughter of Pinocchio,” she declared in as strong a voice as the usually soft-spoken girl could manage. “And, I am r-ready to pledge my destiny.”

Then, just like Headmaster Grimm had described to them, a little key magically winked into existence and the girl quickly extended her hand to catch it. She hesitated for only a second before bringing it down to the cover of the Storybook of Legends, inserting it into the lock and giving it a twist.

The audience all watched her reactions with some anticipation and saw her look of wonder as the Book itself did something they couldn’t see before opening up to her eyes. The flash-forward visions of her book, a sneak peak of her story to come, was kept hidden from the eyes of everyone but Cedar and as the magical manuscript revealed secrets of her destiny, the puppet girl’s face was a reflection of her feelings. Some unease, fear, and horror. But also a few smiles and finally a joyful grin so wide her chestnut cheeks might have been in danger of splitting.

A white light blossomed before her face and from what they could tell, it was a large mirror, reminiscent of those hanging in the air, that would show the student what her future form would look like. Whatever it was she saw, the school had never seen Cedar look so overjoyed before, as close to happy tears as she was capable.

With this brief fortunetelling completed, the mirror reconstructed itself into the same white feather from the MirrorNet video of last year and without any hesitation this time, Cedar plucked it from midair and put it down on the Book, signing her name and pledging to follow her prewritten path to destiny.

The first signature had been cast and the pavilion burst into celebration for her, some giving her a standing ovation. Cedar happily waved to her friends before climbing down the steps to retake her seat.

It was Ashlynn’s turn next.

The nature-loving princess took the stage and Headmaster Grimm described her story, during which Daring took a breath to calm his nerves. Wait, nerves? _What_ nerves? He was Daring Charming; he could declare his destiny in his sleep. It was just the fault of Rosabella, getting him worked up with all these odd questions. He was fine, he was cool. He was happy to do this.

The prince looked back to the stage and saw Ashlynn in the midst of her flash-forward story which meant he would soon have to take his place.

Right after the Book was signed and applauded for the second time, the headmaster returned to speak.

“Every story in this school is of equal importance, but this next tale has a special prominence to us all. It is the legend of _Snow White_.” This title was met with a round of applause that the headmaster had to quiet down before he could continue. Daring rose to his feet at the same time as Apple and Raven, both blonde royals taking a moment to smile back at their respective fans and merrymakers before walking proudly towards the stairs. “This is a story of bravery, determination, and the greatest magic of true love.”

It wasn’t until they stood on the actual steps and waiting for their time to enter the platform that the prince, who was for once the most focused of his team (he hadn’t been allowed to bring a mirror with him), noticed they were missing a person. He stood on the upper steps with Apple excitedly bouncing on her heels behind him and Raven behind her with a more sullen look. Where was Hunter?

“The first character I shall introduce is Daring Charming.”

Putting everything else out of his mind and dawning his most fabulous smile, Daring walked forward. He didn’t strut as he would have any other day but rather, channeled a king’s dignity into each step, making them as solid and regal as his own father would do. He glanced up toward the mirrors and saw them following his motions, how the cape on his back flowed and how the details on his sword glinted in the spotlight of the rising moon and the glow of the mirrors. From the audience rose emphatic clapping but also a large amount of feminine squeals.

Rather than do his spin trick as he’d practiced in rehearsals, Daring bowed his head in acknowledgement to them, then took a maneuver from that video Humphrey had shown him, using a hand to sweep his cape over backwards, letting it draw attention to his magnificent outfit and the grace in his stride. Headmaster Grimm had had the forethought to make the mirrors glare-resistant so his blinding teeth wouldn’t affect people as they always did when he smiled.

Standing behind the podium waiting for the praise to die down, Daring spotted Hunter amongst the crowd, looking down in dejection. He hadn’t gotten up to join the other characters, but rather sat in his chair with a look of pure depression. What was he doing? Was he just going to sit there all night and not take the pledge? Maybe he should say something to him…

_Smile. A prince doesn’t need thoughts or emotions. He just needs his smile._

That old lesson popped into Daring’s brain unbidden but it did remind him of what he was supposed to be doing right now. He couldn’t afford to worry about what Hunter would do; he had to solve his own issues. Right now, Daring had _his_ destiny to concern himself with.

The applause had finally eased and, now surrounded by quiet, Daring let his booming voice ring out over them all.

“I am Daring Charming, son of King Charming,” he declared, pausing for dramatic affect as his eyes swept the crowd. He saw Dexter gazing up at him with a smile and he saw Darling in one of the furthest rows, sitting in her designated area, also looking up at him. Even though she wasn’t as excited to pledge her own destiny as she might lead on, she did smile at her older brother, at least happy to put on a pleased face for him in his big moment. He loved his sister.

He could see the faces of his friends, too. Aside from Hunter, Hopper was cheering him on and Sparrow was smirking as if he really didn’t care either way, though Daring steadily ignored the robber boy blowing a raspberry at him when he caught his gaze. Blondie smiled with a dreamy look in her eyes, Briar was waving him with a drowsy expression, fighting off a nap-attack, and Rosabella was, well, at least she was smiling this time. The way she was _squinting_ her eyes, though, made him feel like she was trying to read him again. As if she could see into him and declare that he wasn’t as pleased with this situation as he seemed. He’d show her. “I am ready to pledge my destiny.”

Rats, Daring thought to himself as the words slipped out. He’d meant to mention about _Snow White_ , too, but hadn’t thought fast enough.

Nevertheless, once the words escaped, light sparked and his magical key appeared. It was gold and blue in color with a handle shaped like a crown. The handsome prince let out a quiet sigh as he saw this, having been so sure it would be… He squashed this traitorous thought before it could rise to the surface, and plucked the key from midair. It was beautifully decorated, but he didn’t have time to admire it. It had a purpose to serve. Just as Cedar had done, Daring took the key between his calloused fingers and inserted it into the golden lock on the front of the Storybook of Legends, giving it a twist “30 degrees” as Headmaster Grimm had previously instructed them to.

Then the Book did something interesting. Just as the lock gave a click, the cover began to change, turning from its worn burgundy to a bright blue. Daring’s favorite color. It was reflecting him!

His excitement waned just a little when in the center circle of the tome, he was once again presented with the vision of a red apple, a reminder that while this story was his, he wasn’t really the main character of the tale.

The Book opened and pages rapidly turned before stopping on a specific image, featuring him. From there, it foretold to him what his life would be like as he took up his role in _Snow White_.

It started with a vision of him signing autographs before a large crowd of adoring fans, even more than he already had at school. That was good. This him was going on grander adventures. Slaying dragons, climbing towers, rescuing princesses. Yes, it was all splendid!

Then, he was on a white horse, traveling through a haunted looking wood that he could only guess to be the Dark Forest, though a section of it he’d never ventured to before.

At last, he came to the right place and saw Apple White. Oddly enough, instead of resting inside of a glass coffin like her mother’s tale prescribed, she was laying across a somewhat short canopy bed in what looked like a pretty comfortable room at the dwarves’ cottage.

He saw the picture of him kissing her, then holding her hand to lift her to her feet while the dwarves and woodland animals cheered. Pretty cool.

Then, it started to become less cool. Instead of ending at the kiss, it showed new images of their after-tales. Him walking down the red carpet with Apple to one of her big singing concerts, standing a few feet back as she was crowned the queen of the land. This him was in the shadows while Apple ruled White Kingdom, one that was hers alone to take charge of despite that he was supposed to act as her king.

And what of grownup Daring?

He saw himself, sitting at an office in White Tower, buried among a ton of paperwork while Apple walked by in the background, a herd of Dwarves tending to her every need. That was...

Daring observed it all in blank confusion before hearing a tinkling noise and looking up to see a mirror had appeared before his face. Any other moment this would have made him glad, but rather than show his reflection, it showed his future self. A vision of him appeared, flashed-forward several years to what he would look like as an adult. In looks, he was very reminiscent of his father’s face, though his mother’s blonde hair was still his trademark. The Daring in the image was grinning broadly, dressed in clothes fit for the most handsome king in all the realms.

Except that it was in only shades of white and red, without any hint of his favored regal colors, like blue. And his muscle mass didn’t seem as large as it should have been, like he hadn’t really been putting his hero skills to work. And was that, _gasp,_ gray hair sprouting?!

So this was him; the ‘ _him’_ of ten years from now. The person he would be after following Apple White into destiny, legend, and beyond. It wasn’t like he had pictured it. He had the good-looks of the Charming family, but there wasn’t a single thing about his clothes that proclaimed his heritage anymore. He was wearing a regal suit which held a pin inscribed with the crest of the White Family.

He had become the next King White.

A quiet murmur arose from the crowd, snapping him back to the situation at hand. It sounded like curious speculations of what he might be seeing, but he wondered if there were some other concerns out there. Had his emotions been clear across his face the whole time? He internally panicked at the thought and cast a quick glance towards Apple, relieved that she was too busy conversing with Raven to notice any fumbles he may have made. He didn’t want anyone, especially her, to see him reflecting doubts or hesitance to accept his destiny. He was supposed to be setting an example for the following students, about the joy of destiny and the bravery with which to confront the future. His little brother and littler sister were watching him, looking to him as a role model to embrace their destinies that they were still in the dark about. He had to show them there was nothing to fear.

_Smile. A prince’s only true worth is his smile._

So, following that advice, Daring smiled. He smiled just as big and as happily as ever before, so much so that even Headmaster Grimm’s spelled mirrors couldn’t contain it all and he saw the audience flinch back at the intensity on the displays.

The mirror became a feather quill and, with the same confident hand with which he’d earlier signed a promise to wear the crown of King White, Daring signed his name on the pages of the Storybook of Legends to follow in that man’s boot-steps. He would be King Daring White. That was his task and that was what he would do. Apple was counting on him.

Once his name was on the page, the once black letters burst into shimmering gold script with ornate lines blossoming from it. His destiny was sealed.

Clapping and more squeals rose up and Daring took them all in, using them as fuel to keep up his bright smile while he swiftly made his way to the opposite staircase. The headmaster took his place at the stand to call for the next character. Unfortunately, he couldn’t start right away as a few girls from the audience had fainted and were in need of reviving, which gave Daring enough time to make it to flat ground and back towards his seat. As he crossed in front of the left side seats, he did notice the mixture of emotions from the students sitting there. Some like Maddie Hatter seemed eager to go up and take their turn at the book but others, like Cerise and Hunter, seemed reluctant to take the stage. Why? They had perfectly fine destinies. They were the _stars_ of their tales. What could they possibly have to be so depressed about?

But it was none of his business so Daring walked on. Hopper offered him a fist bump as he passed and returned to his seat between Briar and Blondie. Both girls gave him nudges and grins, a show of how happy they were for him and he was tempted to look over towards Rosabella to see what she might have been looking like, but he ignored this idea. What did it matter what face she was making? He’d signed the Book. It was all sealed up. There was nothing that could derail him now.

Nothing, that is, except for the other characters of the story.

As Apple next took the stage, an ovation even louder than what he’d received echoed around the pavilion. It was hard to imagine how much worse it would have been if Tiny was still in his giant size. For the occasion, he had taken a shrinking potion (courtesy of Maddie) and was currently somewhere amongst the crowd until he and Jillian Beanstalk would step up for signing into _Jack and the Beanstalk_.

As expected, Apple started off with a flourish, approaching the stand with a row of doves perched on either arm, a picture of the future Snow White. Through every part of the ceremony, she was nothing but smiles and happiness, and when the quill appeared before her, Daring couldn’t help but grin genuinely. This was the moment that Apple had been dreaming about since they were children, the chance to sign the Storybook of Legends and take that first real step towards her Happily Ever After.

So what did it matter that he wouldn’t get to do heroics for the rest of his life? So what if he wouldn’t be the center of attention? And so what if he would just end up a more handsome copy of his future father-in-law? Apple was happy with this destiny and out of all the people he knew and considered as close friends, she deserved to get that Happy Ending the most. So who was he to feel let down by a few things way off in the future? He would just be grateful that he got to have such a prestigious role in a destiny, which is all that a Charming could ever hope for.

Well, that and that even in ten years future, he was as handsome as he’d dreamed he would be. The gray hairs just needed a bit of touching up with some dye, is all.

Yep, destiny was on its way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N1: The seating order taken from "Legacy Day" webisode (with a few interpretations), while the pledging order was pinched from "Once Upon a Time" by Shannon Hale.
> 
> A/N2: Most of you have seen Raven's flash-forward story from the webisode, right? [SPOILERS] It's not pretty. Regardless if you sympathize with Royals or Rebels, you have to admit that was a bad situation it would be putting her in. So what about Daring? In most patriarchal kingdoms, the queens are often overlooked and pressed into the background. EAH obviously follows more of a matriarchal system, so I assume kings would get this treatment instead. Especially for stories like Snow White where the prince is of no real importance to the plot. Snow White rules the kingdom (and the big corporation), King White gets the desk job (not that Apple's dad is complaining).   
> Daring will still be handsome, so everything will be fine. Right?  
> Hmm...
> 
> Trying to fit in as many characters from the franchise as possible. Some fit easier than others and most get more time than a few. Such is life.


	8. Aftershocks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Legacy Day is a bust. Can the Snow White cast recover or will this be The End before they even reached the first chapter? And what of the others? Those with set destines vs. those without; who's in worse shape?

It was broken. Everything was broken. The mirrors, the ceremony, all of Legacy Day. Destiny itself had been ripped asunder and it was all because of one person:

Raven Queen.

How could she refuse to sign? _Why_ would she refuse?! Didn’t she know what she’d done to everyone? Looking around the grand ball room, at the faces of students and teachers alike, it was like there’d been some sort of disaster. In a way, there had been. The destruction of the _Snow White_ story.

Out of the numerous students of the Legacy Year class, the many stories that had to be signed into the Storybook of Legends in order to survive, only _four_ people had successfully signed their legacies to fate. Everyone else had been denied the chance because right after Raven’s outburst, when they’d been freed from her (incredibly rude) freezing spell, Headmaster Grimm declared Legacy Day officially cancelled. No one else would get the opportunity to deny or accept their destiny. As it stood, in the sea of uncertainty, only two stories were truly safe. And one was shattered to pieces.

Daring looked to his side and frowned at the distressed expression on Apple’s face. She’d had that look since they’d dragged her along to the After Legacy Day party. Well, that was no longer _really_ what it was since Legacy Day had been cancelled and all subsequent activities with it, such as the field trip scheduled during tomorrow’s free day. The only thing that had survived Headmaster Grimm’s fury was the dance and that was only because Briar had rounded up everyone and marched them all aboard the carriages while the Headmaster had locked himself in his office. Without him there to back-up his decision, the rest of the faculty had given in easily to the rose princess’s persuasive arguments about their right to have _something_ to this day after all the excitement and hard work that had gone into it. Legacy Day was already broken; did they _really_ want to completely shatter it for the students?

So the dance was allowed to proceed, but on one condition: the students that had shown delight in not having to sign the Storybook, _the Rebels_ as they were now being dubbed, must be allowed to attend the party, too. Including Raven Queen. This had faced understandable outrage among the other half of the students, the ones who were devastated and heartbroken that their long-awaited Legacy Day had been ruined by one character’s selfish decision. They’d wanted to bar the rebellious faction from their dance, seeing no reason to have them join in a party that was to celebrate Legacy if they were just going to throw it away. But whining wouldn’t change the conditions. The compromise was struck.

Now, the Rebel students stood to one side of the room in awkward clusters, still decorated in their Legacy Day finest with no on willing to breach the gap over to the other side. Well, _one_ person had tried, Madeline Hatter, who didn’t really understand why everyone was separated this way. Or perhaps she _did_ understand, but was acting like she didn’t. It was always hard to tell with her. Honesty, in the middle of all this drama, she was one of the most confusing parts. Maddie had been on Rave’s side the whole time, had cheered for her, and as her best friend, stood beside her in her decision to turn away from _Snow White_. But at the same time, Daring knew for fact that she loved her destiny story and had every desire to be like her father, the Mad Hatter, when she grew up, inheriting the family Tea Shoppe instead of a kingdom. Wonderland was cut off from her after the attack of the Evil Queen and she could not return home until a cure was found for the poison, but that didn’t stop the love of her homeland. Every part of her screamed this love; her dress, her speech, her chipper mood. Everyone in the school loved Maddie because of how fun and spontaneous she was and when it came to being a poster of joy for destiny, she was right in the top ranks with Apple and Cedar.

And yet Maddie was with the Rebels, and so was Cedar, though she was standing more to the divide as if she couldn’t make up her mind where she should be. At the base of the Rebel crowd was Raven, standing with Cerise and Hunter. So many Rebels. Where had they all come from? The hat wearing girl had tried to incite the students to come together in the middle, even using the lure of a tea party, but no one would and now she sat alone in the center of the ballroom, partying alone with just her dormouse and Kitty Cheshire. Where the Wonderlandian trickster stood in all this was anyone’s guess. With Sparrow Hood and his Merry Men band playing solemn tunes on the stage which had made Melody give up and retreat to a far corner with her headphones, not even Maddie’s good cheer could pull this school back together. Could anything?

On the opposite side of students, now declaring themselves to be _the Royals_ faction (whether they be of actual royal blood or not), emotions were ranged all over the map while they sought condolence in one another and tried coming to terms with having no way to get their stories back. Sadness, anger, and confusion radiated amongst them and no one knew what to say to smooth things over. Solving issues was usually Apple White’s great skill but at the moment, she was just as lost and confused and sad as everyone else. Perhaps more. It was quite a depressing night.

A sniffle to his left caused Daring to glance over and he was suddenly barraged by a mass of weeping females. Typically, he and his fan club kept unspoken rules about contact, mostly to cut down on chances of quarrels breaking out. However, at this moment they were all on the same page. Those of his admirers who were looking forward to this day, unlike the unexpected half who had been glad for the cruel events, all wanted their dear prince to comfort them.

Today he’d make an exception. He understood their feelings.

“There, there,” he said to them, trying to fit all of the weeping ladies into his arms at once, but finding there were too many of them. So instead he worked to just hug half of them at a time, then swapping to the others. “I know how you feel. We all wanted this day to be great.”

“Oh, Daring,” said one of them, Gale. She tried to brush away the tears, but wasn’t succeeding as they ran too fast to catch. “I’d wanted to sign that book since I could sign my own name.”

“Me, too.”

“And me.”

“I’d wanted it so much and now it’s all just…it’s just _dead_.”

“How could anyone do such a thing?”

“I don’t know, fair damsels,” Daring answered before reaching into the bottomless pocket of his vest. He’d had the forethought to prepare for waterworks before they left school grounds and began extracting countless handkerchiefs for every crying girl who needed one. Each was embroidered with his family crest and spelled to absorb tears fast so they were perfect for the care of weepy-eyed damsels. Some had seemed almost regretful after using his gifts to wipe streaming makeup and tears, but sadness overwhelmed such worries and they were freely letting it all out. Plus, as quite a few pointed out, the cloth tissues smelled like him which was calming. Perhaps he should start a fragrance line…

“But what are we going to do now?” a girl whose name was Marisa queried while waiting for her tissue. “If destiny is broken, then where does that leave the rest of us?”

Daring pulled out a handkerchief for her but, seeing the look in those dreary eyes, it reminded him so much of his little Charming cousins whenever they hurt themselves during their games at Family Balls. And on a deeper level, it reminded him of his sister in those childhood moments she would let go and cry in front of him. Those days had been few and far between.

“It leaves you right alongside all of us. We’re in this as a team, now,” Daring declared, using the handkerchief in his hand to wipe away tears for her. She accepted this gentle touch pretty well but once he saw her nose was also running, he didn’t hesitate before using his cloth-covered fingers to stop the flow. “Blow your nose.” Though her cheeks were bright red at such a request from the school’s most gorgeous prince, she eventually relented and blew her nose against his covered hand as if she was a young child. Daring didn’t even flinch as he carefully whipped away any residual mucus and inspected her face to make sure it was dry. He’d cleaned enough toddler faces to be immune to things like this.

Seeing that she was all right now, he held the moist handkerchief in one hand and gave it a small shake. A cloud of warm smoke erupted from it and before the girl’s eyes, it went from a wadded up tissue to a freshly washed fabric. “Fairy magic,” Daring explained before handing the now clean square to her. Who knew how long her cleared-up face would last? “We’ll all just do the best we can. There’s nothing we can change about it now.”

“What about you, Daring?” a different girl asked. “You and Apple signed the Book, but without Raven, the _Snow White_ story is still incomplete. It’s _broken_.”

“It’s _not_ broken,” Daring disagreed, despite that that had been his own thought just a few minutes previous. “It’s just…on a _pause_ ; like Legacy Day. We just have to work through a few issues, solve a couple of nicks, and then everything will turn out fine. So worry not, fairest maidens. All will turn out well in The End.”

Daring wished he felt as confident as he was trying to sound and while Marisa went in for another hug, needing just a bit more comfort before she could give the next female a turn with him, Daring couldn’t help but wonder if there was really any hope for his story or his future.

What does a Charming do if their whole story has collapsed? No destiny, no…nothing.

 

Once the boats returned to campus, all the students spread out to do their own things. Headmaster Grimm still hadn’t come out of his office, some said they’d heard him yelling at someone inside (perhaps on the MirrorPhone?), so it was up to the rest of the faculty to escort everyone to their dorms even if they weren’t required to go to their rooms. Tomorrow was still a free day and as curfew had already been extended quite a bit to fit in with the allowed party (which they’d ultimately decided was better off ended early), the kids had plenty of time to do as they pleased.

“I still can’t believe any of this. Can you?” Hopper asked, his voice shaking as he worked on removing his Heirloom clothes. His crown and medal clattered onto his desk and his green jacket was flung across the back of a chair in uncharacteristic neglect.

On his own side of the room, Daring had already removed his jacket and crown, and was working on his sword belt, thoughts more towards the state of particular stories than of Legacy Day as a whole. Were things as broken up as they seemed? Two of the key characters of _Snow White_ , the Heroine and the Hero, had signed the Storybook, so who’s to say they couldn’t still make things work? The Huntsman part wasn’t _that_ important to the plot progression and if they found a new person to play their Villain, everything could work out. All they needed was a poison apple. Then Happily Ever After would still be a possibility for Daring and Apple.

But even if that was true, that didn’t help the others like Hopper who now had no clue what he would do with his destiny. The poor boy had been hoping this would be his chance to learn the identity of the princess that would save his life, though they all knew he’d been dreaming of Briar’s face in that glimpse of the future. Now, despite how badly he’d wanted it all to come true, his story was left unsigned and he had no idea where he’d be going from here on. Could his fairytale even happen now?

And Briar Beauty, what of _her_ story? If the rules of Legacy were broken, then how would she know that when Faybelle came to curse her into sleep that there’d be a destined prince waiting for her years in the future? The guarantee was gone.

And…what of the people who hadn’t learned their destinies yet?

Daring let his gifted sword drop to the floor as this thought struck him. What were Dexter and Darling going to do now that they couldn’t see what their destinies were? What would this mean to _their_ futures?

“I’ll be back later,” Daring told Hopper as he rushed to the door of their room, but, for once, it was Hopper who was being inattentive. He was too focused on his MirrorPhone as he prepared to ring his parents and explain why they wouldn’t be getting pictures of his signing like they’d been promised.

 

It took Daring no time at all to make it back to Dexter’s dorm and he anxiously tapped on the door. A prince wasn’t supposed to act anxious, but he was too worried now to be concerned about things like that. The door swung open and there was Dexter, back to just his slacks and button up shirt with the sweater still over it. “Oh, hey Dare, again,” the boy greeted, looking nervous as he faced his elder brother.

“Hey, little bro,” Daring said. “Can I come in and talk to you for a minute?”

“Um,” Dexter glanced backwards to the inside of his dorm, the turned back to his brother. “I don’t think that’s a good idea right now.”

“Why?” Daring asked, trying to look over the boy’s shoulder. A flash of green color caught his attention and it didn’t take a moment to figure out it was Hunter he was worried about. It was his dorm, too, after all.

Daring stepped backwards to allow Dexter out into the hallway, shutting the door behind himself. “What’s up,” Dexter asked, trying to appear nonchalant though it didn’t take a detective to see the nervousness in his eyes. Just like his twin sister, Dexter Charming wasn’t good with keeping cool under scrutiny.

The elder student skipped right to the point. “I wanted to talk to you about the whole Legacy Day thing.”

“Oh,” Dexter said, looking down nervously. Daring didn’t understand this. He wasn’t a parent or a teacher; he was his _brother_. What had he ever done to make his little sibling so worried, as if he couldn’t talk to him about things?

“Look, I know how stressful things have gotten now that the Legacy Day is ruined, and well, I wanted you to know that this doesn’t have to really change things.” Dexter looked up at him, confused. “We can still carry on with our destinies, no matter what. Even without the Storybook, we’re still Charmings, right?”

“Um, yeah, we are,” Dexter said nodding his head, then looking away. “We definitely are.”

“Dex, is there something wrong? I mean, other than the whole Legacy Day disaster?”

“Um, no, not…really,” Dexter started but, seeing the intense look on his brother’s face, he cracked a little bit more. “It’s just, you know, when you see things from _everyone_ ’s point of view, it’s really... _interesting_ how everything could fall apart like this from just one person’s choice and I wonder if, well, would this have been such a big deal if Raven’s role wasn’t such a large part in such a famous story?”

“I…don’t know the answer to that,” Daring said truthfully. If Raven’s part was smaller and more obscure like the roles of the Peter Piper or the mouse of Hickory Dickory Dock, centered in their own stories without any other leading characters to worry about affecting, would things really have blown up this way? “Maybe it wouldn’t have. But that makes no difference now. _Snow White_ ’s villain has been lost and now we have to figure out what we’re going to do about the backlash. We might be able to get a new one and then Raven’s thing will be water under the bridge. That would be the best outcome.”

“You’re not angry at her?” Dexter asked, looking at his brother with surprise. “I thought you’d be more outraged after all of this happened.”

That was a good question, Daring pondered. Why wasn’t he more angry? He’d been frightened to death when Raven refused to sign the Book and slammed it shut on her story. He’d openly booed her alongside the other Royals when they realized she’d single-handedly ruined their hopes and dreams. But now? Now he didn’t feel much anything about her choice. There was only one thing on his mind. “I’m more concerned about you, Dex. About how _you_ feel right now.”

This got an even more surprised look from the other Charming which added a level of insult, in Daring’s opinion. True, he didn’t have heart-to-heart chats with Dexter much as they‘d grown up and the two sometimes didn’t see eye-to-eye, but they were Best Friends Forever After and when it came down to it, his brother was one of the people who mattered most to him. More than heroics or good-looks or even his own destiny that was now in question. He wanted to know how his brother was feeling about his fate.

Recovering from the shock, Dexter just gave a small shrug. “Well, I guess this doesn’t really change much for me, right? I already didn’t know what my story was going to be and so I guess I’ll just have to find out the old-fashioned way, like our ancestors did. I’ll just have to wait and see.”

He said this calmly but Daring could see, in the depths of his bespectacled aquamarine eyes, a touch of sadness and regret for his lost destiny, gone before he even got to have it. It broken something in Daring’s heart.

Without thinking, Daring reached for his brother, but rather than provide a slap on the back or an arm around the shoulders like he usually did, he pulled his younger counterpart to him in a full brotherly hug. Dexter’s arms hung by his side and he was stiff as a board as Daring held him tightly. “I’m sorry, Dexterous,” Daring spoke softly. “I’m sorry that you didn’t get to see your story. I’m sorry that you didn’t get to find out. You always work so hard to be a hero and you deserved to see your destiny just as much as anyone else did. I’m sorry it was taken from you.”

Dexter remained frozen for a long moment, but, after that moment, slowly lifted his hands to press against his brother’s back in a returned embrace. “I don’t feel like it was taken from me,” Dexter said from where his face was muffled by dark vest covering his slightly taller brother’s shoulder. “I don’t feel like I’ve been robbed. It would have been nice to know what it was, but I’ll go on even without knowing. I’m a Charming, right?”

“Right,” Daring smiled, glad to hear this. His brother was one of the most resilient people he knew. He really needed to tell him so more often.

“But what about you, Dare? What will you do now that _Snow White_ is…fractured?”

It was Daring’s turn to stiffen up. He thought for a long moment, wondering what he should say but knowing he needed to figure it out before he faced his brother. So, pulling back, he gave the other boy a brilliant smile. “I’ll just go on, too,” he declared. “After all, I still have these looks and this heroic skill. There’s nothing I can’t face and this is no exception.”

With that he gave his boisterous laugh that immediately wiped away his ill feelings like water drops on a window. And since he could no longer feel such distressing things, the emotions were gone from his face, allowing his appearance to radiate only confidence and bravery. Even Dexter, who was admittedly one of the most observant people in their family and able to spy minute details as a result of his overly-perfect vision, seemed convinced by Daring that he’d be fine. Still, it was better that he leave until he could get it all under lock and key.

“Well, I have to go check on something, so I‘ll see you later,” Daring declared but before he strolled off, there was one last thing to be taken care of. “Um, say, Dex, could you talk to Darling if you get a chance? She probably needs someone to talk with and you’re better at speaking with her than I am. You two are twins, after all.”

Dexter nodded, understanding without any further explanations. Daring bonded with Dexter because they were heroes, Dexter bonded with Darling because they were twins, and as small children Daring used to bond with Darling because she was always eager to jump into whatever adventure he wanted to go on, regardless of how Mother would scold them for taking her along. Growing up and the expectations forced on his sister, not to mention all the issues that came with her suitor problems, had led the blond siblings to grow apart. For her sake, Daring couldn’t be the willing instigator of her disobedience to their parents and traditions anymore. As obvious as it was that the life of a damsel didn’t suit his free-spirited sister, he still tried to nudge her towards that lifestyle which seemed her only option for a comfortable life. Because of this, she never opened her heart to him like she would to Dexter.

Dexter promised to go to their sister and with a mutual fist bump, an effort to go back to their typical displays of brotherly affection after that hug, they parted ways. Daring had told Hopper he would be back soon, but there was really somewhere else he wanted to be more than inside the school.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N1: A direct quote from Daring in "Once Upon a Time" following Legacy Day is: "Raven Queen upset the ladies! Fair ones who have been looking forward to their Legacy Day since they were delicate little nursery rhymes. I’ve been wiping runny noses and catching fainting princesses all afternoon." He sure is a Nanny-type over his fans. Plus in "Dexter Charming's Story", he's quite popular with his little relatives, so he probably acclimated to this kind of care.
> 
> A/N2: Again, mixing the webisode events with the book franchise for this.
> 
> Wow, this has gone on for a while. Thank you for sticking around for it. One more chapter after this and it'll be the end!


	9. Comfort in Strange Places

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Left alone to his feelings, Daring has to confront one of the biggest issues with his own destiny, and these have nothing to do with Raven. He finds an unexpected gift from the Storybook of Legends and is granted some advice from an unexpected friend.

For the third time that night, Daring found himself back at the dragon stables. Legend was still slumbering away in his stall and would be until morning. Instead of sitting by his trusty steed’s side, Daring sat up on the roof of the stables, gazing up into the starry sky. It had rained earlier while they’d been at the party so the tiles were as slick as scales, though that didn’t matter to him. It was just water and it would dry; water spots would fade away.

 _This_ , however, wasn’t going away.

Looking up through the breaks in the clouds, Daring could see only half of the constellations that filled the nights of Ever After. _The Fairy Princess_ was only a single wing, _the Great Crown_ just a corner, and he tried to find _the Briar Rose_ but it was nowhere to be seen. It was like even the stars had been taken away from him.

He needed to get past it, needed to soldier on like he’d told his brother. The past was gone, what good would moping do him now? There was still people who believed in destiny and looked to him, alongside Apple White, as an example. _They_ ’d signed the book and didn’t regret having done so. So it was up to them to show how destiny goes on even if some people prefer to be left behind. He would just shake it all off and…

A ringing came from his pocket, likely a hext message from Hopper asking where he was. Daring reached to pull out his MirrorPhone and as he did so, something else tumbled from his pocket. The item slid across the roof tiles and he barely managed to catch hold of it before it fell to the dirt ground. Forgetting about the hext message, he pulled the object to his face to examine it.

It was a key. And not just _any_ key, but _his_ key; the one he’d used to open the Storybook of Legends. How had it ended up in his pocket? From what he remembered, it supposedly disappeared right after he used it.

Amazed, Daring held the trinket up closer to his face, taking in the details he’d missed before. The main colors of the key were blue and gold, his own favorite colors to wear. From the stem down to the pin on the end was all sky blue with the middle triple-ridged in gold. Tapering into the pin, the bit of the key where it was supposed to enter a key hole, was beautifully engraved with the logo of “e a” for Ever After High.

But the most amazing part was the handle. The bow was ornately decorated to resemble a threaded crown amidst royal curls and lines. Little blue jewels were embedded into the design. It was spectacular, Daring thought to himself, but that still didn’t explain how it was in his pocket.

“Must have been some kind of spell,” he concluded. It appeared on his person as a reward for signing the Book, proof that he’d pledged himself to his destiny. Did the others get one, too? He’d have to ask them tomorrow. He thought about running off to show Hopper, but then decided that might not be a good idea. It’d be like rubbing it in his face that he got to sign the Book but no one else did. Of all his prizes and awards, this one might be better left _not_ put on display. He’d just keep it a secret to himself.

But that didn’t mean he couldn’t admire it, right? It was like a royal representation of Daring, his character, everything he as a Charming would …

Then he saw it. Right at the very top, above the crown engraving. It was mixed into the details around the circle so he hadn’t noticed it before, but when he held the key up to the backdrop of the moon, he saw the shape cut out from the miniature shield icon.

It was a tiny hole shaped like an apple. An _apple_. _More_ _apples!_

A suddenly intense feeling welled up in Daring before he could push it down and for an instant, he had an unbearable desire to throw the beautiful key away, just like he would a bookball, and send it flying across the Dragon Fields.

It was always apples. _Always_ apples. _Always **Apple**_!

His entire body froze. He didn’t even care when the key slipped from his stunned fingers and tumbled off the roof. He was too shocked by this internal outcry.

Where…where had that thought come from? What was that odd feeling of bitterness coming out of him? He’d never felt like that before, never felt this oozing emotion of ungratefulness. Why would he? He _knew_ he lived a charmed life, both figuratively _and_ literally. He was a crowned prince of a prestigious family, had tons of wealth to buy anything he desired, a fantastic reputation and respect from the people around him. He was strong, brave, a specimen in all things heroic and dignified. He got good grades in all of his classes, was captain of the Dragon Slaying team, and a star player on the school Bookball team. He even had a fan club dedicated to his name.

He had the most spectacular friends anyone could ask for, and not one but _two_ younger sibling who made his life complete. He was absolutely _gorgeous_ , for crying out loud!

But above all else, Daring had what everyone should have wanted: he had a key role in what was possibly the best known fairytale in all of Ever After. He was the next Prince Charming in the tale of _Snow White_ , he was Apple White’s future king. He was destined to be the king of the entire realm. _Anyone_ would flip their crown to have all that he had. And he’d always been sure to never take that for granted, not once in his life had he ever not wanted it all.

And yet…

His breath was coming in ragged pants and he clenched his empty fists trying to get a hold of himself. Daring had been disappointed before. He’d known sadness and fear and pain in his lifetime. Even someone as charmed as him couldn’t be shielded from some of life’s natural hardships, regardless of what others might have thought. And he knew one thing very clear about himself that he never wanted to reveal to anyone else: he, Daring Charming, was emotionally fragile.

It didn’t take a lot to get him royally upset and in his moments of immense emotions, he would often shout and yell and whine pretty loudly. It never actually solved anything or got him what he wanted in the way it usually worked for his sister, but that was just how he dealt with his feelings: by making noise. Sometimes he would even burst into tears. He disliked seeming not in control of himself, but the tears themselves weren’t something he looked down on. It was just a natural way to be sad. It was fine.

At this moment, though, he didn’t feel quite like those moments. This was something deeper, much deeper. It wasn’t some shallow sadness of an adventure that hadn’t gone right or finding a blemish on his perfect face or hair. No, those were just surface wounds. What he was feeling now was reaching way down in his heart, was clawing at him from the inside and he felt like crying just wouldn’t be enough this time. He wanted…he wanted…

He heard Legend below in the stable, giving a loud grumble in his dreams. And just like that, the dam broke.

Daring rose to his feet, somehow not immediately toppling over on the incline, then turned his eyes toward the sky where the clouds were still rolling passed, hiding him from the gaze of the stars and the moon. No one at all was watching him.

That feeling he’d had before was welling up again and this time, he didn’t hold it back. He felt it rising up from his chest, up from his throat, and when he opened his mouth he let it come out.

“!”

It was, by far, the loudest shout he’d ever heard himself make. It wasn’t like his kingly chuckle or regal declaration voice. It was guttural and sounded more like the roar of a monster than a human. He wasn’t worried about anyone hearing it all the way out here. The dragon fields were kept at a distance from the castle for the sake of roars not disturbing the residents. And anyone who _did_ happen to hear him would just assume it was the sound of an animal from the woods, Dark or Enchanted, that echoed from the nearby area. No one would know it was the cry of a prince who felt like everything he’d hoped for was coming apart at the seams.

By the time his roar finally died down, Daring choked in a raged breath of air. His lungs felt like they wanted to burst, his throat was aching and he coughed, feeling the sting like strained vocal cords. He hadn’t even known he _could_ strain his voice. It just didn’t seem like something a Charming would do considering how battle cries were engraved in their DNA.

It felt like his strength had completely left him and without warning, he flopped backwards against the roof still panting with exertion. Was that exertion? It certainly wasn’t dragon slaying work, but, boy, did he feel tired. He thought maybe he could just fall asleep right there, on the unguarded roof, with only the sky to see his misery. But just as his eyes were starting to close, a sound of footsteps reached his ears. He was so exhausted, he couldn’t even bring up effort to feel worried that the mystery person had heard him.

“Um, wow,” a voice called up to him. “That was, unexpected.”

Daring groaned, then regretted this noise when it reminded him of his burning voice box. He heard the sound of shoes against wood as the person climbed the ladder inside of the stable, leading to the hayloft with a window that looked out at him. Rotating his head, Daring sent a look of uncontained annoyance at the face of Rosabella Beauty.

“You know, you’ve been looking at me a lot today with those faces,” Rosabella remarked as she climbed through the opening and out onto the roof. Like him she was still partly wearing her Legacy Day clothes but had removed some of outer garments. She was in her white underdress with goldthread rose embroidery and gold slippers. Her crown and shawl were gone. With a bit of trouble, she managed to lift herself completely into the open air and, still distant from him, took a seat on the roof tiles without seeming to mind the dampness.

“What face?” he asked her, his voice gruff.

“Like you think I’m being a pest,” she said easily. Apparently, this was a look she was used to getting from other people. It didn’t seem to affect her in the least.

For his part, Daring hummed neutrally then turned away to face the sky once more, not wanting to look at her or her eyes. He had a feeling she would show him pity and right now, he didn’t want that.

“Nice night out, isn’t it?” she tried to make conversation. “I think clouds at night look interesting.”

He didn’t reply.

“Nothing to say back? That’s very unlike you,” she smiled a little bit. “Usually you always have _something_ to add.”

“Nothing much _to_ add,” he said, no wanting to talk mainly because of his pain but also because he wanted to just stop thinking. Just like a prince should.

“And you’re usually a lot more gallant, also. I don’t think being cold and aloof suits you.”

He glared at the sky over this comment. True, his princely soul was crying in outrage over how he was behaving towards a lady, but he just pushed it aside. Why should guilt matter any more than all those other things he was avoiding?

“Daring,” she started, but he could immediately recognize this tone and cut her off.

“Let me guess, you’re going to ask me again whether or not I’m ‘feeling okay’?” He was so sick of “Feelings” right now.

“Actually no, I wasn’t going to ask you that.” He sighed with relief until she continued. “I don’t need to ask. It’s already obvious to me that you aren’t.”

“What’s so obvious about me?” he scoffed. _He_ could barely understand what was going on with him. There was certainly nothing _she_ could do. “What do you know about me?”

“Not a lot, really; no more than you show other people. But I don’t have to know _about_ you to see the ‘you’ that you’re showing right now. And that ‘you’ is not doing so well.”

“I’m fine.” He insisted, letting a sterner tone fall into his message.

“No, you are not.” She shot back just as firmly, if not more so. She had a lot of power behind her voice when she wanted to use it. “You are _not_ fine, you are _not_ okay. And to be honest, I don’t think even _you_ know what’s the matter with you right now. And that’s because you aren’t in touch with your own emotions.”

Daring was taken aback by this declaration. Rising up to a sitting position, he finally turned to look at her. “What…what do you mean?”

The girl sighed, then said in a more gentle voice, “Daring, my Legacy story is _Beauty and the Beast_. The Magic Touch I have is to know what lies beneath the surface of a person; their _true_ selves. Even if you can fool yourself over what you feel, that doesn’t mean you can fool me.”

“You mean you can, like, read minds or something?”

“No, not reading minds,” she laughed a bit. “It’s more like…reading our inner selves. I can make out some of the most basic character traits of a person depending on what’s forefront. Sometimes it could be a trait like gentleness or bravery, but other times it could be more shallow and fleeting emotions like fear or depression. Or uncertainty.”

“So you can read those emotions in _everyone_?” he asked, not pleased with this idea of someone having such intimate knowledge into himself. He worked very hard to keep his non-princely thoughts in his own head.

“Well, for _most_ people I can,” she admitted, then squinted towards him. “But with you, it’s always been different.”

“What does that mean?”

“I mean that unlike everyone else, your real feelings aren’t one solid thing at a time, Daring. In any given moment I look at you, you look like you’re feeling about three different ways and all of them are so mixed up and buried deep inside of you, I can barely decipher them. All I can tell is that you’re in some kind of inner turmoil.” She scooted a little further down the roof towards him, though still kept a comfortable distance. “And what’s more, it’s all buried deep down inside of you, separated out from whatever emotions you’re trying to project. Like your Passion. It makes me wonder if you can’t really _feel_ what’s going on inside of you-”

“No, no, no!” Daring protested, not liking this idea at all. “I’m _not_ ‘disconnected’ from myself. I know myself better than anyone in the world. I…I check my reflection several times in an afternoon and I know exactly the length of my nose and how my hair falls and the exact angle to tilt my head so that I show my best profile. I know _Daring Charming_. I do!”

After all this loud shouting Daring devolved into a coughing fit, his throat still raw from before. He put a hand to his neck to try and sooth it.

“Here.” He looked up to see Rosabella holding out a wrapped candy. “It’s a lozenge. It’s good for a strained throat.”

“Why (cough) why do you...”

“I’m always getting sore throats. It’s because my voice it naturally loud and I talk even louder when I think something isn’t right.” She was smiling kindly as she said this, like it didn’t really matter that he had just bellowed at her in such a rude manner that even with his current annoyance, made him regret his tone. “I might be destined for the role of Beauty, but there is still a bit of Beast in me, too. Sometimes, a beast just has to roar to be heard.”

Before he could help it, a bark of laughter erupted from Daring’s mouth. It didn’t feel good on his aching throat but in the depths of his chest, the act was like a balm for his aching heart. Graciously, he accepted her offering, unwrapped the cellophane paper and popped it into his mouth. Smells of rose and lemon immediately overcame him, filling his senses with images of flowers. It left a warm feeling against his tongue.

“Wow,” he mumbled around the candy. He’d never had anything like this before.

“It always works really well,” Rosabella smiled again. “My dad makes them back home. He uses flowers from his own garden.”

Daring could only nod his head. He could feel the liquid medicine soothing his aching throat and like magic, he felt so much better. “It’s really great,” he said. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

The two sat in silence for a while, Daring still using the cough drop and Rosabella fidgeting with the edge of her skirt.

Feeling the candy melt away to the last on his tongue, Daring decided he should ask the obvious question. “So,” he spoke up, in a tone that was calmer and more like himself than he’d had before. “You said you thought I was in some kind of turmoil. What exactly did you mean by that? What kind of ‘true emotions’ have you been reading from me?”

“Well…” She looked at him, squinting her eyes for a moment. Then, she did what he’d never seen her do before: she removed her glasses.

It was incredible how much she looked like Briar without her rose-tipped frames to produce a different look. From their long brown hair and tan complexions, to their brown eyes and button noses, the Beauty girls could have been confused for twins and, in fact, _had_ been in their first year of school together.

Once her glasses were gone, though, and he could really see her eyes, he saw that hers were actually quite unique. Briar’s eyes were darker and more in the shade of pink rose petals; while Rosabella also had pink-tinted irises, hers contained a warm honey glow about them that made her gaze brighter than her cousin’s.

Now unhindered, Rosabella bored her eyes into him but rather than look at his handsome face, her gaze was directed towards the center of his chest, as if she was directly looking into his heart.

“You’re very nervous and uncertain,” she said, eyes narrowing in thoughtful observation of whatever it was she was seeing. “You’re sad, too, and angry. But most of all, you are very confused. Does that sound about right?”

Daring didn’t comment, turning his eyes back to the starry sky. He…he didn’t think that was how he was feeling. Was he? He wasn’t sure, anymore. About anything. “Daring, you know there’s nothing wrong with all those feelings, right? Given everything that’s happened today, it’s perfectly understandable to be confused and angry and sad. So many people are.”

“But…” Daring spoke before he realized the words were coming out. “Not everyone is _Daring Charming_. I’m not supposed to feel those ways. I’m a prince. Those kind of feeling shouldn’t matter.”

Rosabella’s look changed from confused to something that was almost angry. She returned her glasses to her face and gave him a hard stare. “Who told you that your feelings don’t matter?”

He shrugged. “A lot of people. Life in general. But it was mainly a lesson from my tutor who was teaching me to be Apple’s prince.” Even now Daring could remember that particular person; the mark they’d made on him was pretty lasting. He hadn’t been a nice teacher, not like the other caretakers of his childhood. This man had been harsh and his methods for making Daring understand were at times very unfair, but he had done what he’d been hired to do. He had turned Daring Charming into the perfect prince. “He told me that I should push away any unpleasant feelings and forget about unhelpful thoughts. If I wanted to make it through tough times, I needed to smile and be content. Smile like I owned the world.”

“That’s…that’s really awful,” Rosabella declared, her voice suddenly loud with outrage. “How could anyone tell you something like that? _All_ of your thoughts and feelings are important, even the unpleasant ones. They’re all what make you who you are. You should never just throw them away!” She paused, inhaling deeply through her nose and out of her mouth, trying to calm herself. Then, she continued in a more even tone, “And besides that, you aren’t really ‘throwing them away’, you know. You’re just pushing them down inside of you. They’re all still there and they won’t just vanish because you pretend they don’t exist. You spend so much time and energy denying you feelings that the only thing you accomplish is separating them from you and putting up such a strong front that even _you_ believe it. You can’t only rely on shallow emotions, Daring; you need your deeper feelings, too.”

He looked at her for a long moment, studying her much in the same way she’d studied him. Her fists were clenched and her expression serious, eyes firmly locked to his as if she could press her words into him by sheer will power. She reminded him a lot of Apple when the blond princess was determined to be a help to her people, taking on any obstacle to make that happen. Daring really admired that trait; he never could work up that much motivation to be helpful, so it was good _one_ of them would rule their future kingdom effectively. Seeing the same determined look in Rosabella, he started to wonder if maybe Briar’s cousin wasn’t quite as annoying and pushy as he always pegged her to be. Maybe she had good reasons, too.

As he continued to stare without speaking, the princess’s expression faltered. She began to fidget, tightening and relaxing her hands, until he finally replied, “I’ve survived this long like I am. I don’t think I need to change.”

Rosabella looked at him with stunned eyes. So he elaborated.

“After all,” Daring said, giving a careless laugh and flipping back a bit of loose hair that had survived his hairspray barrage, “even if Raven didn’t sign her story and Hunter’s turned rebel, so what? I _did_ sign it and so destiny will prevail for me. And for everyone else who still believes in it. Even if the story _stays_ broken, I at least have other things to fall back on: my looks and my talents. Why, for someone of _my_ caliber, the world is practically an open book to me and I can get my Happily Ever After no matter _where_ it might lead me. Destiny is amazing like that.”

“What...but…I…you….”

“So, thank you, Rosabella,” he said, reaching back to take her hand in his. “I’m glad you’ve reminded me of what truly matters most. Keeping track of my destiny.”

“But I didn’t…that’s not-!”

He leaned over and placed a kiss against the brown skin of her hand, causing her to fall silent. He looked up and smiled at her. “I know we’ve clashed a few times in the past, but maybe now we can be more on the same page. After all, we Royals have to stick together, right?”

For a long moment, Rosabella just looked at him, her eyes unreadable, before an expression of real anger slowly took over her face. She let out a loud cry of frustration, from what he wasn’t quite sure, then jerked her hand out of his grip as she got to her feet. Unlike him, she couldn’t perform this move as gracefully as she’d wished. For a moment, she tottered forward on the slippery incline until Daring caught her around her waist so she wouldn’t tumble off the edge like a golden Humpty Dumpy. Once she was settled, she looked him in the eyes once more, her button nose pinching up with something she wanted to say. Instead, she just let out a loud, aggravated sigh.

“You know what, Daring?” Rosabella declared, looking at him with tired eyes. “Just…just do what makes you happy, all right?”

“I intend to. Thank you for noticing.”

“Mm-hmm.” She rubbed a hand across her cheek and with one last exhale of breath, turned to make her way back towards the stable loft. However, before she got that far, she remembered something and turned to face him.

“Here,” she said, holding out her closed hand. He thought it was another lozenge and opened his palm for her to drop it in his hand. But she surprised him by cupping his offered hand in her free palm and laying her fisted fingers on _his_ palm. He looked up at her face and once again, her eyes were piercing him through the lenses of her glasses.

“Do what it takes to get through the day, Daring. I understand that. But all the same, don’t forget that you’re a human just as much as a prince or a hero. And it’s perfectly fine for you to have dreams just like anyone else.”

She withdrew then and he saw what she’d left in his palm. His Legacy Key.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N1: I feel cheated that only Apple and Raven's keys were shown. Can you imagine what Cedar's looks like? So cute!  
> A/N2: Daring's (official?) profile says he gets upset pretty easily. Can definitely see that in the webisodes and movies.  
> A/N3: Rosabella's Magic Touch" as described by her diary. Her profile also says she has sore throats all the time, so she probably carries lozenges (organic, of course). I was secretly excited when "Rosabella and the Three Bears" confirmed by theory :D
> 
> Oh my goodness. Definitely one of my biggest projects, especially for only my second posted fic, but I'm glad so many people have liked it enough to check it out and leave kudos. 180+ hits? Thank you all so much! :)


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